Hitokiri Keitaro: The Marked Man
by Derrand59
Summary: A work in-progress if there ever was one, this is in no way a crossover, I have simply combined certain aspects of many different animes and films.
1. The New Manager

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything but a pair of old socks and the computer that I am composing this narrative to you on.

**Authors Notes: **I wont lie to you, I will be updateing at a very slow pace through out this fic's life, it's mainly due to a hectic life, the fact that I suffer greatly from the affliction called writer's block and i constantly keep changing my mind on where i want this fic to go.

That being said I hope you enjoy and review please.

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'_Japan is facing one of its darkest hours, the Government has become corrupted and the sudden increase of crime in Japan has made it possible for even small crime lords to take full control of entire towns, Japan has now gone back to the way it was during the Tokugawa Shogunate, were the common people have no choice but to be suppressed and controlled by the government through force and fear. There is only one way to end this and it is the same way as it was ended the last time, it will be ended by the tip of a sword, the sword of a Samurai!'_

**October 1999**

The light breeze blew through the trees as a young man made his way up the steps to the Hinata inn. He had been traveling across the country for a year and had received a message from his grandmother, who he had only met once when he was very young.

He wore black Gi pants and a white Hakama, slung over his shoulder was a rucksack, on his belt that held up his Gi pants was a Katana with a black scabbard, he had short brown hair with a kind and calming face, a face that looked like it didn't have a care in the world, with big chocolate brown eyes, he radiated a welcoming spirit and his appearance and mannerisms showed the same the only thing that showed any sort of sinister side to him was a scar across his right eye.

This very scar made people wary of him and with his garb (which was that of a samurai) and the weapon on his hip and mixed with a lot of young men, who had read to many mangas and watched to many animes, spreading rumors about him while he traveled. Every time he came to a new village he would hear a new tale involving many colorful and gruesome narratives involving him and lots of blood soaked adventures, which many people believed, which caused them to give him a wide berth, though all these rumors were very gruesome none were as gruesome as the truth of his past.

But this did not disheartened him because after people got around his scar they found out how friendly he was, he made many friends in his journeys and helped them with their problems, being as small of a tasks such as fixing roofs and other menial tasks, though with the scar and sword he could scare away a lot of unwanted gangs as well, but if you asked none of the people that he made friends with all would tell you that they had never seen him use it. He never stayed in one place for more than a week or two always-moving going were ever he wanted, he had kept this life style up for a year.

Then a young man who apparently had been trailing him for a year with a message from his grandmother had approached him. His grandmother had apparently paid the young man handsomely to find her grandson, but on finding the scared man he had stated that the money she had paid him was not worth the 'shit' he had been through on trying to find him, which lead to were our young man is now.

He reached the top of the stairs and took in the sight that was Hinata inn, it was bigger than he remembered, he smiled as memories of a small child with no worries and no scar used to run around this very building playing and getting into trouble with faceless friends.

He knocked on the front door but received no answer, he opened the door and made his way into the entrance hall.

"Hello grandma it's your grandson Keitaro" his voice echoed through the foyer no one answered.

"HELLO" Keitaro shouted again, but yet again no answer.

Keitaro slowly made his way into the inn and instinctively began to sweep the area with his sharp eyes, it was habit he had when entering a place that was unfamiliar, after a visual sweep he had already learned a lot about the people who were staying, one seemed to eat a lot of bananas by the amount of blackened skins that were spread across the room, another had to be a middle aged out of work bum because their was empty bottles and cans of booze on the coffee table in front of the TV, which was accompanied by at least two dozen betting tickets for horses, another had to be at college or at least trying because their was a not so neat pile of books next to an arm chair that seemed intentionally pointed away from the Television.

The biggest thing he learnt from his observations was that the people he lived here had hygiene issues, though not very serious though not very presentable for an inn; he couldn't work out why Grandma hadn't cleaned it up or even any of her employees.

"It's a wonder how she gets any one to stay here," he said out loud to himself.

Keitaro moved further into the inn having completed his sweep and judging the area being safe, he made his way up to the manager's room. Knowing that his Grandmother wasn't there seeing as he hadn't felt her.

The young man who had found him had told him that if she weren't their he would find something in her room explaining what she wants.

He found her room on the second floor and entered, the room looked bear as if no one had been their for months, their was a fine layer of dust on the surfaces 'Who ever she has got as the cleaner should be fired' he said out loud to himself.

He scanned the room and saw an envelope on the table with his name on it. He made is way across and sat down removing the sword from his belt and lying down besides him on his left hand side.

He took out a tanto from inside his sleeve and cut the envelope open, he removed the letter and began to read.

_Dear Keitaro_

_I Know of what you are and what you have done, I do not hold that against you and as your aunt will tell you, I was young once and I to fell for the tempting lure of dreams and passions without giving a second thought to the consequences, though you have shown inner strength by being able to turn you back on it. With you walking away from that life and trying to start a new I have a already covered it for you, in the envelope that this letter came in their should be the deed for the Hinata apartments, it is now in your name and you are now the manager of the apartments…_

Keitaro stopped reading and looked in the envelope and as she said their it was the deed he looked back at the letter.

…_Here are some of the jobs you will be attending to while in this position…_

The letter folded out another two foot in length listing the jobs 'Holy Shit' Keitaro exclaimed.

**Five minutes ago**

Naru sat in her room studying her eyes hidden behind her Glasses, she had been at it for five hours now and her head was killing her, she finally gave into her throbbing head and got up and made her way across to the piece of plywood over the hole that separated her room and the managers room. She remembered that granny Hina kept some pain killers in her room it saved her walking all the way to the downstairs bathroom, were they kept the pain killer pad locked so as Su doesn't mistake them for sweets, though like most children the minute she was propitiated she had to have them so she tried anything she could to get to them, on one occasion after foiling one off Su's attempts Kitsune had said 'Its like living with one of Ocean's Elevens'.

Naru had just removed the board and was about to climb down when she saw someone sitting at Granny's table.

"What the" Naru breathed, who ever it was it was male, she had first thought it was Motoko with the person wearing a Hakama and Gi, but then she noticed the short brown hair, she then noticed he had a knife in his hand and a sword to his left.

"Holy Shit" the man suddenly exclaimed

Naru's mind went into over drive of thousands of equations of jumping to stupid conclusion's, the biggest one being,_ so he came here to rape us and then do away with us when he's done, well he has another thing coming._

What must have been no more than five seconds Naru jumped down next to the man and preformed a roundhouse kick, that would make Chuck Norris proud, sending the man into earths lower orbit.

"There that showed him," she concluded clapping her hands together.

**Two Minutes ago**

Keitaro had skipped the list deciding to read it later and read the small section at the end.

_P.S Ow and Keitaro one last thing, the Inn is no longer an inn it is now an all Girls Dormitory, you should make your presence known because if you don't…_

Next thing Keitaro knows he hears a battle cry from behind him and watches in slow motion as a young woman, with long brown hair, jumped down with amazing grace and performed a devastating roundhouse kick on him.

The kick hit him in the side of the head and sent him rocketing off into earths lower orbit straight through the wall leaving a Keitaro shaped hole

The letter fell to the ground of manager's room the last line said:

…_There will be sever consequences from certain members over reacting to the presence of a male._

_All my love your Grandmother Hina._

**The outskirts of Hinata **

"There finished," said a man as he stepped back from the shed he had just finished building.

He stood with his hands on his hips as he observed his work, he had a smile on his face, he turned around 'Hey honey come out and see I' finished'.

"LOOK OUT BELLOW" came a voice from above; the man 's head jerked up and saw something coming with great speed towards the earth.

With a great whistling sound that only came from something traveling at great speeds the object, came crashing into the shed decimating it.

The man stood there speechless he couldn't, his eye twitched slightly.

"I thought you said you were done" his wife said from behind with a very disapproving look "you have been working on that for months and you haven't got anywhere, Idiot" and with that she turned around and walked back into the house, the man jerked his head around in the direction of his wife that a resounding crack came from his neck.

"AWWWWW SHIT" the man yelled in pain as he stumbled around the garden in agony kicking anything hat got in his way.

Keitaro, who had been the object, slowly got out from the wreckage and jumped over the fence before the man had spotted him, he had heard the mans wife and the mans reaction and he realized that with out his sword he should make a speedy get away.

Amazingly Keitaro looked almost unharmed, he had a few cuts and bruises but not much more his Hakama and Gi looked a bit tattered but they always did, the only thing that showed any sign of harm was the big red mark where the girl had Kicked him.

"What on earth was her problem she just attacked me, god what a hot head" Keitaro moaned to himself as he rubbed the red mark on his face, he began the long walk back to the inn.

**Back at the Inn**

The whole Hinata crew came crashing into the manager's room, Motoko with her sword drawn, closely followed by Su who held some kind of contraption that sort of resembled a gun, Kitsune was behind her with an empty sake bottle in hand ready to hit anyone who got in her way and behind her was Shinobu clutching a frying pan close to her chest.

"What is it Naru?" asked Motoko in a rush as she began to shifting her body ready to release an attack on any body stupid enough to attack.

Naru looked at her friends astonished at how quick they were to react, "err I was just getting rid of a pervert" she replied while pointing at the hole that was now in the side of the room and inn.

Every one eyed the hole that had very distinctive shape, then Kitsune smiled "I See Naru hasn't lost her touch and I thought with you failing the Entrance exam that you had lost your touch, my mistake it seems' she said clapping her hand on Naru's back.

"Hey what do you mean touch are you calling me some kind of tomboy" Naru asked angrily.

"Well if the shoe fits" Kitsune shot back with a devilish smile. Naru immediately started ranting at Kitsune, who just stood their laughing.

Every one seemed to loosen up after this and began to watch the theatrics. Motoko sheathed her sword in a fluid motion, she looked around the room and saw a katana lying beside the table in the center of the room, and she walked over to it, picked it up and began to study it.

The sword seemed to weigh a lot more than hers, it had a black sheath and an equally black hand grip and hand guard, she placed her hand on the grip and pulled, the sword slowly slid out of the sheath and revealed a beautiful blade, it looked flawless with an edge that caught the light and dazzled Motoko, which shocked her seeing as there wasn't much light in the room.

"Cewl sword Motoko can I have it pwease" asked Su as she came bounding up to Motoko, who reluctantly sheathed the sword and held it in her right hand.

"Were did that come from," asked Kitsune who had a big red mark on her forehead after Naru had thrown a book at her.

"That pervert had it," said Naru who still looked agitated from Kitsune 'and he had a knife, which he was using to open a letter'.

"A Knife?" Motoko said

"Fuck the knife, lets look at this letter" said Kitsune with another devilish grin, _If it was in here it must be a letter of grannies so it has to be juicy, _she thought a small gleam in her eyes.

"Is this it" said Shinobu as she picked p a piece of paper of the floor, before she could read it Kitsune snatched it from her and began to read, first Kitsune's face looked annoyed, then confused, then worried and slightly angry, then finally a devilish smile came across her face.

All of the other house mates, except Su who was still bugging Motoko for the sword, recoiled as they new that that face meant a whole world of trouble was coming.

"What does the letter say?" asked Naru who edged forwards.

"What letter" said Kitsune still holding the smile?

"That one in your hand" said Naru sounding irritated at her friend again.

"Oh this isn't a letter," replied Kitsune.

"Then what is it?" asked Motoko looking at the piece of paper with interest.

If it was possible Kitsune's got even more mischievous "Ow this, its just a simple document" she replied mysteriously.

"What is it a document for **Mitsune?"** Motoko repeated putting a special meaning on the last word.

Kitsune flinched slightly at the mention of her first name "aww you're no fun" she pouted, the she began to read in a formal manner "Real estate deed of ownership land and buildings, name: Hotel Hinata House, Location 1 Hinata st., Hinata City, Kanagawa Prefecture…" she stopped and took a breath, the rest of the house mates, except Su, listened waiting all knowing that what she was going to say next was going to be big.

"…Buildings: Main building-Nort…" all of the house mates, except Su face faulted, Kitsune grinned as all of the house mates picked them self's up.

"Would you actually tell us what is so important, because you wouldn't be grinning like you are because of that" Motoko said irritably, starring daggers at the fox girl.

"Oh all right where is it…" she said more to her self than the others "aha here it is" she cleared her throat dramatically "Owner: Keitaro Urashima twenty three" she finished off and looked up at the other house mates and she looked like she was about to explode with laughter at the other house mates.

Naru looked like her brain had just gone into melt down, Shinobu had gone slightly pale and had dropped her frying pan and Motoko's left eye was twitching so and her face was unreadable, the Su piped up:

"Wot's a Kreitawo does it taste good" she asked, this was enough for Kitsune she went on to her knees clutching her sides through the pain of the laughter.

**A few hours later**

Night was falling outside but none of the housemates were going to get any sleep tonight.

"We cannot accept him" declared Naru, she had concluded that the pervert she had hit was the new manager "Grandma must be going senile in her old age, I cant believe she would do something like this in a straight frame of mind, hell no one would do this in a straight frame of mind and another thing…" she ranted.

None of the housemates were actually listing, they to were making random conclusions on the matter and planning what tey would do with the news:

_Well if he's cute and with him owning this place I could get quite a nice little package deal with this,_ Kitsune thought to her self with the ever constant foxy grin on her face.

_Well if he's nice I cant see any problem,_ Shinobu thought.

_If this man commits one perverted act, I will bring the force of the entire heavens upon him_, Motoko thought with a grave look, it was common knowledge that she despised the other sex, or the idea of living under a roof with one seemed to push her too new level of hate and contempt, so much that she had forgot the sword that now was in her belt at her right side opposite to her own.

Only one thought was going through Su's mind, _I wonder if anyone will play with me._

**Meanwhile**

Just outside a van pulled up at the bottom of the stairs, at the back off the van five men dressed all in black jumped out of the back doors, the from the passenger another man dressed all in black gets out and then one from the driver side gets out, all of the men had katanas at their sides.

The man who got out of the passenger side, who seemed bigger than the rest, looked up at the inn "lets go and have some fun" he said with a gruff voice, then all of the men bounded up the stairs to the Inn

**Inside the Inn**

Naru seemed to be almost shouting that what ever she was saying could not be understood or even worth understanding.

Then all the lights went out, Naru stopped in mid sentence "hey who turned the lights off?" she asked.

Motoko went into her stance and began to reach out with her senses she could sense intruders, they were men and they were in the room.

"SHOW YOURSELF YOU COWARDS" she shouted, and then a resounding thud came from behind her she turned around and could just make out Naru sprawled across the ground with a dark figure standing over her, his sword unsheathed but he had used the hand grip to knock her out.

With a great war cry Motoko leapt forwards with a two handed over head strike on the man, the man raised his blade putting his hand on the blunt side of the blade to fully stop the attack, the two blades collided, but the mans blade didn't budge.

Motoko gritted her teeth together, then she heard a muffled scream behind her she looked around and saw Kitsune, Shinobu and even Su being restrained by other men in black, though it took two for both Kitsune and Su, they were all bound, with blindfolds and gagged with rags stuffed down their throats, Motoko could see tears begin to wet the blindfold, then the they all suddenly went limp.

She turned back around to her opponent and released the lock they were in, she looked around and saw six more men in the same color, the one, who seemed bigger than the rest, stepped forward "Come now we don't want to hurt you permanently, not any of your friends neither, so come now like a nice girl" he said with a cold voice.

"NEVER" she shouted and rushed forward sword risen, the man moved fast and punched Motoko in the gut driving the wind out of her, but her sword still remained in her grasp, she saw that the man had exposed his back, she brought up her sword and shouted 'DIE' but before she could bring her sword all of the way down another man caught her arm and was able to remove the sword from her iron like grip.

Then another man came and restrained her other arm and stuffed a rag down her throat and blindfolded her, Motoko had a funny taste in her mouth, she then started to feel drowsy, _anesthetic, _she thought,_ so that's why the others went limp_, unlike the others she could resist the anesthetic better, "well might as well start with you" said the leader he began to take of her Gi pants, taking the sword she had found earlier and throwing it in the direction of the entrance not caring were it landed, he continued to take the pants off revealing Motoko's panties, when he suddenly noticed something.

He looked up at the other men "Did anyone hear that sword land" he asked, at first the men looked confused then they too thought about it and had not heard a sound. One of the men got out a flashlight and switched it on pointing it in the direction of the entrance.

There stood Keitaro clutching the sword with his left arm ought stretched were he had caught it, nothing looked out of place except his eyes, which were terrifying, they were like icy steel holding no emotion, even from their positions the men dressed in black all recoiled with fear at the sinister gleam in the man's eyes.

The leader got up from over Motoko and let one of his men bind her.

"You have no business here friend, so if you know what's good for you, you will know to piss off" the leader said standing as straight as he could to make himself look bigger, but even though the leader was substantially bigger than Keitaro, as he walked towards the men, letting the sword clutching hand fall to his side, the leader seemed to lose all his courage in the face of this man.

"Friend." came a cold reply colder than any of the men had heard before "…I would never consider you or any of your band of scum friends, now let me reply, you have no business here, so unless you want to meet the devil and ask him how bad this idea was, then I would leave immediately" Keitaro said every word dripping with venom.

Motoko laid there listening to the conversation, she to had felt fear shoot up and down here spine at the sound of the new mans voice, the anesthetic was beginning to get to her, but she still held on.

At the end off Keitaro's threat all of the black garbed men drew their swords, they all had a mixture of different sizes swords and some even wielded two, they all circled Keitaro, who just stood there not taking any stance up, the men in black looked confused they could not decide what to do next, what this man was doing was suicide, yet he came across as a man who had probably done this many times before.

One of the men too Keitaro's left, armed with two short swords, lunged forwards with his swords, with a flash Keitaro stepped back from the man in blacks lunge and brought his still sheathed blade up in a fast motion, striking the man in the chin with the hand grip. The man in black fell to the floor with a thud and was out cold.

Motoko heard the thud, but now she was having trouble staying awake, she barley had a grasp of what was happening.

At the sign of their fallen comrade the other men in black, except the leader ran forwards, Keitaro moved faster than anyone the leader had ever seen, with his still sheathed blade he dispersed two men with one swing of his sword, smacking one across the chest so hard that he flew back taking one of his comrades down with him.

Another came from Keitaro's right, the Keitaro just side stepped and spun on the ball of his foot, swinging his still sheathed blade around and striking the man in black across the small of his back, sending him flying yet again into another comrade who didn't get up after,

Only one remained he came running at Keitaro with his Katana raised above his head, Keitaro side stepped again and placed his sheathed blade behind the mans legs, bringing the blade from behind at such a fast motion it swept the mans legs from under him and for the briefest second the man in black seemed suspended in mid air as Keitaro raised his sheathed blade above his head and struck down hard sending the man crashing to the ground, dispersing what ever oxygen that was in his lungs.

The leader took in the sight of his men lying around so easily dispersed, he looked at Keitaro and drew his sword "I see that you are very adamant on not killing us, as you first made out, worried about staining the carpet" the leader mocked.

"No" came a reply "I learnt a long time ago that if you are trying to kill a beast don't strike the body as it is fruitless, but just remove the head" Keitaro said with even more venom dripping from the words.

Motoko, Could hear voices still but couldn't work out what was happening, all she wanted was to go to sleep, but she new that she had no chance if she did.

The leader came running forwards with a great war cry, Keitaro calmly went into a stance that his body and cloths seemed used to, his legs were spaced out and he was slightly crouching with his sword now in his belt again, his left hand on the sheath just under the hand guard his thumb poised to move for the given moment and so was his right hand that was hovering over the hand grip.

The leader just kept on running until he was about three feet away when he brought his blade down at a colossal speed.

The Thumb didn't push forward, but the right hand drew, but with the Sheath still on the blade, the speed so fast that the sound of sheathed sword striking the leader was not heard until the strike was complete, the strike had hit across the leaders chest, the strike was so hard that all air was driven from the leader body, he dropped his sword and went onto his hands and knees, spitting up blood from the strike to his lungs, Keitaro, spun on the on the ball of his foot and out of the leaders lunge and now stood at the side of the leader as he spat up blood, Keitaro brought up his sheathed blade above his head and brought it down in a tremendous force with two hands, dealing a tremendous strike on the back of the leader, successfully breaking his back but not his spine.

The Keitaro looked down at the man he had just paralyzed, he lay their unconscious for now not knowing that he probably would never use his legs again, the man stood their holding his sheathed sword

Then Keitaro looked around at the girl he had just saved from being raped, he made his way quickly across to her and was just about to untie her when he heard grunt from behind him, he looked around and saw a girl with long brown hair getting up off the ground, with a hand on her head, the brown hair seemed familiar to Keitaro.

Naru woke up and got up her head felt like a monkey had gone at it with rock she looked around and saw Motoko with just her Gi pants off and her panties showing, she was still tied up and knelling over her was a man, she couldn't make out the mans features through the dark, but she didn't care 'You swine' she said with venom dripping from each word, she walked towards the man.

"Err" Keitaro whimpered, Keitaro looked worried at Naru who edged dangerously towards him, he took a step back, but tripped over Motoko's Gi, that was lying on the floor and fell over on top off Motoko, _She's so soft,_ Keitaro thought, which caused his face to go red and a drop of blood to appear at one nostril.

This was all that Naru needed to push her over "YOU PERVERTED BASTARD" she screamed and leapt forward faster than Keitaro had ever seen anyone move, laying one of the most powerful punches he had ever received on his face almost exactly were she had hit him before causing more pain, the blow sent him crashing through the ceiling and into earths lower orbit again.

His sword fell to the ground next to Motoko.

"Well that's the last we will be seeing of him" Naru concluded clapping her hands together, she looked over at Motoko, who she noticed was tied up with a rag down her throat and blindfold around her eyes 'Motoko' she said worried, she failed to see the faint blush on Motoko's face.

Motoko, who had lost all resilience to the anesthetic, had suddenly felt a warmth and security she had never felt before, if the rag had not been in her mouth she would have been smiling, the it suddenly left, just when it left she finally lost consciousness.

**The outskirts of Hinata **

"…And then bang something just flies straight into my shed and destroys it when I had just finished" the man, who's shed had been destroyed, told his friend the story of what happened while he was round his friends house.

"Shit man you have been working on that for awhile I just finished mine today as well, wanna see" they both got up and walked to the back garden "There she is" he said proudly.

"That's great man" the other replied the they heard a whistling sound they both looked up and saw an object coming fast to the earth "Holy shit not again the owner of the other shed said, the object came crashing into the shed decimating it leaving nothing but wood lying around.

The owner of the shed began swearing and kicking anything that got in his way; "Now you know how I feel" the other man said not seeing Keitaro make another quick get away.

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**Authors notes: **well comment on what you think so far and what you think of the combination, I like it, but what the fuck do I know lol and as always be gentle.


	2. The New Manager part 2

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything but a pair of old socks and the computer that I am composing this narrative to you on.

**Authors Notes:** Me an my friend was discussing the idea of combining Keitaro and Kenshin and we came up with, if no one had got it from the beginning, I am using the manga story line from love hina (as always) but I started one year ahead of when the manga starts, this next chapter is going to be mainly made up of plot so sorry.

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**BANG BANG BANG**

The noise of someone banging on the front door rang through out the Hinata teahouse, Haruka eyes slowly opened, _heads will roll,_ she thought to her self, she slowly pulled herself out of her bed and quickly got dressed, she had gotten use to being woken up late in the night by the girls, _they can make the biggest deal out of nothing,_ she thought bitterly.

**BANG BANG BANG**

"YEAH I'M COMING" she shouted in the direction of the door.

She pulled her apron on and then made her way across to the entrance, she opened the door and they're stood Naru, _should have kno…_ she stopped mid thought.

Though the girls made big deals of some of the stupidest things, why last week a poor young man who had an old holiday pamphlet, came up to the House, not knowing that it wasn't an inn anymore, for a bed for the night and the girls had tied him up from the nearest tree for perversion. It had been a miracle that he didn't sue.

But this time was different, Naru was as white as a sheet, she was shaking and her hair was matted by blood, "Naru what's wrong" Haruka's voice was serious, more serious than Naru had heard.

"GUSATACRAPEMEMOTOKOANDAND…" Naru babbled, Haruka grabbed her by the shoulder and looked her in the eyes "Naru calm down, look me in eyes and take a deep breath with me k" Naru followed Haruka's instructions, then they both took a deep breath together, then Naru started recounting her story, Haruka listened to Naru, her grip on the girls shoulders seemed to get tighter with each syllable, "…then when I woke up Motoko had taken all of them out but one, who must have overpowered her when she wasn't paying attention, anyway he was bearing down on her but didn't notice me so I got rid of him" she finished she could feel her shoulders going numb from Haruka's grip.

Finally she spoke "were are these men and how are the girls" she asked finally releasing Naru. Naru consciously reached up to her shoulders to rub them "the girls are fine they are still a little confused and drowsy from the anesthetic, Motoko still hasn't woken up and the perverts they are all tied up, I don't think there is any need though, because Motoko did a real number on them, I wouldn't be surprised if any of them didn't wake up for a week" Naru said.

Haruka nodded and then began rolling of instructions to Naru "ok, first I want you to get back up there and try and keep the girls awake" Naru nodded "second I want you to make sure those guys cant get free ok" Naru nodded again "and third I want you to stay with the girls don't go around the house looking for anymore of them, if you stay in a group its less likely anyone will try again" Naru nodded again and shot of in the direction of the house.

Haruka went to were she kept her phone and dialled the number for the police, the phone kept on ringing, but no one answered, Haruka put the receiver down then picked it up and redialled, but yet again no answer "shit" she said as she slammed the receiver down. She then went out the front closed it and locked it then ran up the steps to the house.

**Up at the house**

Naru ran back into the room were the girls were, Su seemed to be recovering, but she wasn't running around like she normally was, she sat on the armchair and had a look on her face that Naru had not seen her wear before.

Shinobu was also looking like she was recovering, but she was hugging her knees up to her chest and was crying softly while rocking back and fourth, Kitsune, who seemed a little frantic but other than that was unaffected, was holding Shinobu and was rocking back and forth with her trying to console her.

Motoko, who seemed to be having trouble keeping awake, looked like she had been pulled through a hedge, Naru walked over to Motoko and sat next her "How are you feeling" she asked.

"Alright I guess," she said with a little less fire than she usually had.

"Hey I know it was scary but you saved us Motoko" Naru said.

Motoko looked up at Naru, with confusion "What" she asked.

"Don't act so modest you saved us, no one else could have beat all these guys," Naru said with a smile

Then Kitsune joined in "and don't worry about getting beat up a bit too, I don't think anyone could have faced these guys and come out without a scratch" she said with a reassuring smile.

Motoko looked around at the both of them,_ was it me, did I just dream about that man. Yes I must have, sister did say once that sometimes when all is lost the mind shuts down and the body takes over,_ she smiled at this revelation "Thank you, but I have to thank you to Naru, that dog who was trying to take me" Motoko bowed her head to Naru "my body must have lost to fatigue due to the fight and he must have got the best of me when I wasn't looking, so thank you" she bowed again.

Naru blushed slightly at the praise "that's ok and if some one tries it again we can both deal with them" with that last sentence she cracked her knuckles menacingly.

Haruka entered the room, what she saw taw at her heart, what was usually a group of happy and care free girls, were now a group of scared children, even Motoko, who seemed to be able to bear some of the worst horrors, looked like she was close to breaking down.

Then Haruka looked around at the men, if it was at all possible they looked even worse, their was seven of them, six were out cold and look ed like they wouldn't wake up for several days, one seemed to be coming too, Haruka made her way across to him and knelt down in front of him, his eyes opened wide and looked frantic.

"Speak" she commanded, he didn't respond he just looked around franticly as if afraid of something in the room, then his eyes seemed to spot something in the direction behind Haruka's left shoulder, then the man began to babble "DMONFSTSTP" Haruka looked over her shoulder and saw that Motoko was their,_ Jesus what did she do to them_, she thought, but little did she know that it was the black sheathed sword lying by Motoko's side that was causing the man such distress.

Naru then looked up and saw the man awake, in flash before anyone could stop her she was on the man, punching him in the face with all she had, Haruka grabbed her and tried to pull her off, Kitsune ran over and helped, "I'LL KILL YOU FOR THIS YOU BASTARD, ALL OF YOU" she shouted at the cowering man, who still was throwing glances over at the sword.

The two women were finally able to pull her off, "Calm down Naru this isn't solving anything" Haruka said, but Naru continued to struggle "BUT HE TRIED TO HURT US" she shouted once again.

"I know, but Motoko saved us and what will you gain from beating him while he's in this state" she said pointing at the man who looked close to tears of fear.

Naru stopped struggling and took in the sight that was cowering before her, "Ok but what do we do with them" she inquired, hands still clenched in fists.

"I don't know, the police are not answering their phones" Haruka replied.

Kitsune looked up "Has Tokyo finally been affected" she asked.

Haruka nodded "I think it may have and if there is no back up from police and with what happened tonight, I would expect things to get worse", at this every one looked up at her and each one of them caught their breath, even Su who looked close to crying.

"I think we should have these men taken to the hospital and let them deal with them" Kitsune said, everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

"Have some friends I can help, I'll give them a call" Haruka said and left the room to make the call.

**Two hours later**

The men were gone and all of the housemates including Haruka were in the living room discussing their current situation, with the men out of the house Su seemed to liven up a little and Motoko seemed to be getting over the anaesthetic, they had fond out that her gag had had extra dose of the stuff, which was why she seemed more drowsy.

_They must have staked us out first, how else did they know who the one that were most likely to retaliate was,_ Haruka thought.

"We should all go home" Naru then announced "it will be safer with our families" she continued.

"And how do you suppose to do that?" Kitsune asked, "If the police have thrown the towel inn and have given up, then how can you expect the transport services to still be running, seeing as they are so unmotivated normally".

Haruka nodded "Kitsune is right and even if we had a car, I wouldn't suggest that either with the law being gone, no one will be worried be worried about just attacking us while we are on the road and that knocks out walking too" she finished.

"Why is this happing" Naru asked she looked at Haruka, but it was Kitsune who answered.

"You need to stop studying and watch more TV or you would actually be up to date with the current events," she said.

Naru glared at her "Alright then enlighten us with you much higher wisdom" she shot at Kitsune, but it was Haruka eho answered.

"Well a year ago, around about this time, a high ranking government official was assassinated, well not so much assassinated more butchered, including all his staff and bodyguards…" Kitsune flinched slightly, which caused everyone to look at her.

"Oh it was nothing, I just got a pain in my side were one of those guys hit me" she said with a smile everyone seemed convinced, except Motoko who stared at her for a few seconds longer while Haruka continued.

"Anyway this sent shockwaves through the media and people began digging and found out that, a whole load of Government official and politician had been assassinated, when each of these politicians had been killed, the media and public had been fed stories about them retiring or leaving the country and even dieing of natural causes and to add insult to injury it was then revealed that a lot of the Government officials that were not killed and were still alive had ties to Yakuza and all sorts of other rotten deals, which destroyed the governments reputation and ever since then it has been loosing more and more control of the Country, Tokyo and the lands around it were unaffected until now it seems".

Everyone went quiet as they thought, "we sit tight and wait for it to blow over, I hear that the Government is reinventing it self with all the instability, I hear a man called Hiromasa Ito is taking over, I hear he is very popular in Osaka" Haruka looked over at Kitsune for conformation.

"Yeah he is, he stopped the Government from building a power plant next to the Yodo river, which people loved him for" Kitsune said in a matter fact way.

"Well I never like the idea of a man in a position of responsibility, but he sounds like the man who should be running the country" Naru put in.

"Well I think we should all try and get some sleep and I'm going to move up here ok" Haruka said, all of the House mates looked up and smiled at this, they all felt a sense of comfort at having Haruka close.

**Motoko's room the next morning**

Motoko had not got a wink of sleep all night, all night she had pondered the events of the fight,_ did I really do it and did I just imagine that man with the cold voice,_ this was all she could think off all night, even during the conversation last night she was not paying attention, the only thing that caught her attention last night was Kitsune.

_What was wrong, I have never seen her go like that before,_ this was pretty much how she spent the night.

It was five o'clock,_ I should train but after last night I think I just need a relaxing bath,_ she left her room and made her way down stairs.

**Twenty minutes ago**

Keitaro made his way up the steps of the of the Hinata house, _Twice I cant believe it twice, _he thought bitterly, _ow well I can understand they were all scared so its understandable._

He got to the top of the stairs and made his way to the entrance and found it locked, he looked around and saw that a window was open, he looked around to make sure no one was around then summoned his Ki and leapt up to the window and landed gracefully in the window 'Ha piece of cake' he said.

_Might as well go for a bath, I think the hot spring is this way,_ he then walk in the direction off the Hot Springs.

He entered the changing room and got undressed, picked the only towel that was big enough for him and then made his way out into the bath.

Just as he left Motoko walked in, she began too get undressed.

Keitaro lowed himself into the bath, _that is awesome,_ he thought.

Motoko was undressed and then went to pick up her towel, but it wasn't their, she looked around but couldn't find it, she gave up and picked up the biggest one she could find though it, left nothing to the imagination, she then made her way to the bath.

Keitaro felt all the aces and pains in his body drift away, _I wonder what they did with those guys,_ he thought.

Motoko stepped into the water making a splashing sound.

Keitaro heard the noise and looked up to see a dark outline among the steam that the hot spring was causing, he then shot up out of reflex.

Motoko saw a dark figure jump up out of no were, Motoko looked the man in front of her straight in the eyes, across his right eye was a very sinister looking scar, but she didn't take much notice as she looked into his chocolate brown eyes, which had a kindness that she had never seen before, she blushed.

Keitaro was standing in front of a woman with beautiful raven coloured hair, which the light morning breeze caught and caused it to wave trail through the wind like silk.

Motoko looked away from his eyes and at his chest and caught a breath, _He takes care of his body,_ she thought and blushed even more.

Keitaro couldn't help his eyes travel down her body and see her amazing figure through the small towel she held on her body.

Motoko then noticed something, _is that my towel,_ she thought, then her anti male section of her mind kicked in, "What are you doing with my towel" she demanded menacingly.

"Err" was the only sound coming out of his mouth as a small trail of blood started to come from his left nostril.

This pushed Motoko over "DIE YOU PERVERT" she cried and launched her self at him and hit him in the same place the girl with brown hair had.

Keitaro flew back into changing room, he then heard a noise up stairs that seemed to be getting closer to him, he looked through the hole he had just made and saw the women coming towards him, he jumped up and ran for it.

Kitsune came running down the stairs with Naru, Naru had her fists balled and ready while Kitsune had an empty sake bottle in her hand, just when they reached the bottom a young man, wearing just a towel that was tied around his waist and reached his shins.

Kitsiune stopped dead and blushed slightly,_ whoa he must work out,_ she thought.

Naru on the other hand just leapt forwards "PERVERT" she screamed as she struck for his cheek.

_Our of the frying pan and into the fire, _Keitaro thought bitterly as he narrowly ducked under the girls fist, he then ran for his life towards the stairs.

Kitsune saw the guy dodge Naru's punch and then watched as he ran towards her, the memory of last night came to her suddenly and she lost her horny school girl attitude and swung her bottle for the mans head.

Keitaro had just noticed the young women at the bottom of stairs in time to be able to dodge the bottle for his head; this caused his eye level to be in line with the young woman's breasts, _Jesus,_ he thought just before he began running up the stairs.

Motoko came running from the bath area, she had quickly changed into a pair of Gi pants and Hakama, she looked around and just saw the man run up the stairs, Naru was Hot on his tail and Kitsune behind her 'You go I'll head him off' she shouted after them, she then ran off in the direction of the entrance.

Keitaro ran around another corner he could hear the two women behind him, but he didn't look back.

Shinobu was with Su just walking down the corridor when a young man, wearing just a towel came running around the corner.

Keitaro was trapped behind was the two women and now in front was a foreign girl bright blond hair and another girl with black hair that had a blue tinge.

Su saw the guy and ran forwards and leapt with a high kick aimed at the head, Shinobu just spread her legs wide and arms out trying to form a barrier so the man couldn't get by.

Keitaro saw the strike coming for his head and spun on his foot out of the path of the strike, _Why is it always the face, _thought bitterly then ran ahead and sae the blue haired girl blocking the way, he sped up his pace towards her.

_Oh no he's just going to knock me over,_ she closed her eyes and waited for impact, determined not to move though she was going to feel a lot of pain soon.

Keitaro continued running towards her_, this is going to hurt_ he thought, just five foot away he dropped to the floor and slid under and between the girls legs in a fast and fluid motion then jumped up and sped off,_ AWW SHIT FRICTION BURNS, _he thought as his left thigh felt the pain of the hard wood floor.

Naru and Kitsune had just come around the corner when they saw the young man slide between Shinobu's legs with speed and accuracy that they had never seen before.

Shinobu waited in anticipation,_ did he stop she thought_, she opened her eyes and saw that he wasn't their, she looked behind her and just caught sight of his towel going around the corner,_ how did he do that,_ she thought "come on Shinobu" Su shouted as she ran by with Naru and Kitsune.

Keitaro went running out off a door that came up onto what must have been the laundry deck, just then the girl with long black hair appeared.

"Got you" she said and drew her sword, behind Keitaro all of the girls appeared and circled him.

Motoko pointed the blade at Keitaro's chest "you will now suffer for perverted behaviour and stealing and defiling my towel" she said.

"You can talk" Keitaro shot back "your wearing my clothes".

Motoko looked confused then she looked down, on her was a white Hakama that was tattered and had seen better days and she wore a pair of Black Gi pants that she now realised were too short, she blushed,_ I must have been in such a hurry that I didn't check,_ she thought.

All of he girls were looking at her and even with the situation Kitsune had that smile on her face, Motoko blushed even more and brought the blade above her head and shouted "DIE YOU PERVERTED SCUM".

Keitaro's mind clicked, _I have no choice,_ he was just about to act when.

"STOP NOW"

Everyone looked behind them, just missing the gleam in Keitaro's eyes, there stood Haruka, Motoko lowered her sword.

"Can you not kill my stupid nephew?" she asked, all of the girls looked back at Keitaro and at Haruka "What?" they all said in unison.

"Its good to see you too Aunt" Keitaro replied with a smile.

Haruka some how appeared next to Keitaro and smacked him around the head "Don't call me AUNT" she said dangerously.

**Half and Hour later in the living room**

"We do not except you as manager" Naru shouted at Keitaro, he and Motoko had now swapped cloths, _Luck for me that I put all my fighting equipment in my rucksack or else I would have to answer a lot of awkward questions_, he thought to him self.

"Hey are you listening to us?" Motoko shouted, both her and Naru were standing over Keitaro, who sat on the sofa with a look of thought on his face.

"DON'T IGNORE US" both of the girls shouted as they both struck Keitaro on either side of the head, rattling his brain.

"Sorry" he replied as he held his head in pain 'if you don't want me I will leave' he got up and started walking when Haruka grabbed the back of his collar and made him sit down again.

"That isn't a possibility" she said.

"Why" all of the girls and Keitaro chanted, then they all looked at him confused.

"You don't want to stay" Kitsune asked, all of the girls looked at him confused.

"No I don't like staying in one place too long, it has nothing to do with the work or the fact that I will probably receive the same treatment I got today, its just I can't stay in one place for too long" he replied.

All of the girls were stunned; most of them thought that any man would jump on the chance of having control over a load of young and beautiful women.

"Well as adamant as you are on leaving, you can't you have a responsibility here and you are needed here" Haruka took a breath 'these girls were attacked last night, if perverts saw that a man was here they may think twice about attacking' she finished off,_ that sounds stupid to me but I hope he got the message,_ she thought.

_So that's why I was called here ok if I must,_ he bowed his head in defeat.

"Yeah and with the way the country has gone, you would eventually be killed or something" Naru put in.

"I don't know, with the way you moved today, I bet you could handle yourself in a fight" Kitsune put in with seductive smile.

Keitaro blushed slightly 'well Kendo is a bit of a hobby of mine, though I'm no good at fighting really I'm just really nimble that's all, which reminds me" he looked up at Naru.

"When you hit me yesterday in the managers room what did you do with my sword" he asked, looking at Naru with piercing eyes.

Naru blushed "Oh yeah I forgot about that, err Motoko has it" she gestured to Motoko.

"Is it a black sheathed, with an equally Black Hand grip" she asked Keitaro, he nodded "then yes I have it".

"Can I have that back it please" he asked.

Motoko thought for a second "if you are going to take up this manger role I would sleep easier if you didn't have a weapon, so in your stay I think I should keep it" she looked around all of the girls and Haruka nodded.

"What that isn't fair what about cleaning and preserving it" Keitaro asked with a little bit of angst in his voice.

"You can have it back once a week to clean" Haruka put in, she looked at Motoko and received a nod.

"Ok with that settled" Kitsune motioned to the rest of the girls they all looked at her at first a bit confused then clicked on, they all faced Keitaro and in unison said:

"WELCOME TO HINATA HOUSE".

**Author notes:** sorry that this one is a lot off talk and plot, but it is needed, I am glad that people have enjoyed it so and approve off my idea and sorry for grammar mistakes, I seriously go through it and a friend does too, but you don't notice them until its up so sorry. Also sorry if I have made a complete cock up of Japanese politics and it doesn't make any sense.


	3. Getting Settled

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything but a pair of old socks and the computer that I am composing this narrative to you on.

**Author notes:** I will apologize now, the story you are about to read will involve spelling and grammar mistakes so heinously insulting that even I don't believe it, so I'm sorry I do try, but I'm just an idiot that's all.

* * *

Keitaro walked into his room, for some reason the hole that was made yesterday wasn't their now,_ one less job for me,_ Keitaro thought as he through his rucksack down on the futon and sat down next to it.

He looked around the room, it was pretty bare, it had the essentials for anyone to live with, Keitaro then noticed a piece of paper next to his bed, he leaned over and picked it up.

It was the letter from his Grandmother; _I don't think I should let the girls see this,_ he thought, as he stuffed it into his one of the pockets inside his hakama.

Then two soft knocks came from the door "Come in" Keitaro said, Haruka walked in.

"Come with me, we need to talk" she asked.

**The laundry deck.**

"Why did we come out here?" Keitaro asked.

"To get away from snoops, it's a real problem here" Haruka replied.

"You look well and you have grown since when I last saw you," she said, while looking him up and down.

"Thank you Aunt Haru…" Keitaro was cut off by the smack around the head that he received from his aunt.

He began again, while rubbing his head "Thank you Haruka, but I think that me being bigger is a given seeing it has been sixteen years, is that all you want" he said with a smile.

"No, I want to speak to you about today' she replied, her face serious "why did you accept that punishment so willingly and not defend yourself" she asked.

Keitaro lost the smile on his face and looked down to the ground and seemed to be examining his sandals.

"By what I have heard, it would only take the slightest offence to cause you to go ape shit and kill everyone in a mile radius" she continued.

Keitaro looked up at her with a slight look of confusion "Now that's a bit of an exaggeration" he shot back, "true that about a year ago I killed people with out a second thought, but I have changed" he replied he looked out over the far off mountains and his thoughts seemed as far away as those mountains.

"Have you completely sworn of killing," she asked.

He continued to stare, as he replied "No."

"Then how have you changed if you still kill and talk about it like its nothing" Haruka's voice was rising, she couldn't help but feel angry at her nephew, when she first heard that a relative of hers was a killer, she had suggested he be disowned, but Hina had been quite adamant about him staying in the family.

"Because I now know the importance and value of a human life, I accept that I am a killer, but now I only kill when necessary and I have no other choice, I swore that I would not hurt the innocent and the weak but try to help them and understand them so I can repent for the innocents I slew with no just cause" he replied, now he looked Haruka in the eyes.

She could see no conviction in his eyes only determination to up hold his vow "It is never necessary to kill and what gives you the right to decide on who is deserving and who isn't" she shot back almost shouting.

"With the way the country is now it is easy to distinguish between the oppressors and the oppressed and now with the country being the way it is, killing has become a necessity" he replied simply.

"Well whose fault is th…" she stopped and looked away "Sorry" she said.

"There is no need to apologise, you are allowed an opinion, even if it's at my expense" he replied.

She looked at him and could see the a slight twinge of regret and pain "Hm I didn't know you a year ago so I cant gauge if you have changed or not, so I guess I will trust you until you give me reason not to" Haruka said with a sigh at the end of her sentence.

"Thank you" he said.

"Don't mention it" she replied "So do you know your **responsibilities** while you stay here?" she asked with enthuses on the word responsibility.

Keitaro smiled "Why yes, I have to clean the bathroom, be in charge of general maintenance, cleaning the entire house…" he continued through his jobs, counting them off on his fingers.

Haruka's eye twitched, _he cant be this dense,_ she thought, she walked up to him and slapped him over the head "Not those responsibilities, the one you are **very good at**" she said with even more enthuses on the last few words.

"Oh yeah I get it" he said a look of understanding coming on his face "but I thought that Shinobu did the cooking and that she was pretty good at it" he replied with a smile.

Haruka face faulted,_ he is that dense, _she thought with a groan, she walked up to him again and slapped him much harder "not that you idiot I mean fighting" she said.

"Oh I see, speaking of that is their anywhere I can get a wooden sword," he asked, seeming unfazed by from Haruka's battering.

"Yeah you could get one from Motoko, she keeps several" she replied and began to walk away into the house.

"Thank you, which room is she in" he shouted after his aunt, from the door she went through a book flew and hit him in the face,

"I forgot to give you that, it has all of the girls information in it" she replied with out looking back.

Keitaro rubbed the lump on his head as he opened the book up and looked for the page with Motoko "Here it is" he said as he found the page "Motoko Aoyama room three zero two" he read aloud, he then slipped the book inside his hakama and made his way to the room.

**Attic (Hinata war room)**

All of the girls were sitting in a circle, even Su though it looked hard for her to stay put, they had just heard from Kitsune, that Haruka had just taken Keitaro out on the laundry deck to talk and Naru had called a meeting while the chance of no one asking questions about where they were presented it self.

"We are all gathered here to discuss the new manager Keitaro Urashima" Kitsune announced formally 'Naru you had something to say' Kitsune gestured to Naru.

Naru stood up "I say that we can't trust him" Naru said to all of the girls.

"But you even encouraged him to stay" Kitsune shot at her.

"Yes I think it would be good to have him here to clean up and to use as fodder against other attacks, but I think we shouldn't get close to him, as you can see from last night men can not be trusted, all men, except our fathers, are perverted scum" she said conclusively.

Everyone was quite thinking about what Naru had just said, until Su piped up.

"What about my big brother he isn't perverted or scum," she said sounding defensive; everyone was shocked at the fact that Su was actually paying attention and the seriousness in her voice.

"Wwell ok he isn't perverted eith…"

"I I have an uncle that is very nice" said Shinobu, cutting across Naru.

"Well I …"

"And my grandfather was a very honourable man and always treat me right" Motoko said, cutting across Naru as well.

"Sorr..."

"And Naru didn't you say that the tutor you had that summer was nice" Kitsune said slyly, knowing all to well the effect her word would have on Naru.

"This doesn't have anything to do with why we are here," Naru said hastily before anyone could start interrogating her about her tutor.

"Ok there are some men out their that can be trusted, but this one isn't, so I say we let him stay but we don't get close or else when your back is turned" she ran her finger across her throat to symbolise what she meant.

All of the girls nodded from understanding.

The meeting ended just a few minutes after Keitaro and Haruka's conversation had finished, giving the girls time to retreat to each of their respective room.

**Motoko's room**

Motoko was looking at Keitaro's sword; she didn't draw it seeing that she had rationalised that if he had her sword, she wouldn't like it if he were drawing it from its sheath.

As she had noticed yesterday, the sword seemed quite heavy, which confused her because the sword was slightly shorter than hers and was the same width as well, it wasn't balanced at all, she new that Keitaro was in good shape from earlier today.

A blush came to her face when she remembered the scene in the bath, but a sword of this weight could only be wielded to its full potential by someone of a larger build, she concluded that the sword must be an heirloom or something because it wasn't suited to him or the sword maker that crafted it wasn't a very skilled one.

A knock came from the door, Motoko placed the sword on her sword rack and made her way to the door, she opened it and saw Keitaro their, he smiled brightly at her, she blushed.

"What is it Urashima" she asked with a slight tone of hostility, from the sudden embarrassment she was feeling.

Seeming unfazed by the hostility or he just didn't notice, Keitaro continued to smile as he replied, "I was just wondering if I could borrow a wooden sword."

"What for" she asked with a raised eyebrow,_ He cant be trusted_, Naru's voice echoed in her head.

"For training and keeping in shape" he replied, gesturing to his body.

"What guarantee have I got that you wont use it against us" she asked with a thrown, trying not to look at his chest which was showing slightly.

"Well with you having a real sword and my skill with a sword being so bad, I am sure that if I suddenly go insane and try to ravage all of you, you will be able to easily dispatch me" he replied his facial expression never changing.

Motoko pondered his logic "you have a point" she replied, she went over to her closet and began to go threw it.

Keitaro took the chance to take a quick glance around the room; she kept her room very clean and had many items associated with Samurai, there was ancient weapons around the room, all put on display and in the middle of the room was a full set of Samurai armour.

Motoko picked up an old wooden sword among quite a few newer looking ones, she closed up her closet and walked back to Keitaro and handed it to him.

Keitaro took the sword and smiled, he hadn't missed that it was an old sword_,_ "Thank you Motoko this will be great," he said.

"Its ok" she replied bluntly,_ he's either really dense or really sweet,_ she thought with a slight blush "Good day Urashima" she said and closed the door.

He shook his head slightly then walked off down the hall, placing the wooden sword in his belt.

**Mid day living room**

Keitaro was in the living room he was cleaning up, he kneeled down to pick up a can of beer that was half full, he was about to put it in bin bag he had when.

"Hey I was saving that for later" came an annoyed voice from behind him; he turned around and saw a girl with short sandy coloured hair and eyes that were practically closed.

"Hey their Kitsune" Keitaro said with a smile.

"You remembered my name huh" she replied with a wink "Well my name is actually Mitsune, Mitsune Konno, but all my friends call me Kitsune."

"Do you think off me as a friend then" Keitaro asked with a sly tone, a slight glint in his eyes.

_Oh he wants to play that game does he_, Kitsune thought with a slight grin on her face "I don't see why you can't be" she replied with another wink, she walked seductively towards him her hips swaying as she took each step, then she lent down so Keitaro had an eyeful of her bosom "I also don't see why we cant be more than **friends"** she asked seductively, she reached out and grabbed the can from Keitaro's hand and gently stroked his hand as she took the can from his hand, _He has rough hands_, she thought.

A steady stream of blood began to run from both Keitaro's nostrils, he covered it with his now free hand "Excuse me" he said hastily and scurried away into the kitchen, Kitsune giggled uncontrollably.

When she got control of her self she sighed deeply "I think Naru is being overly cautious, he seems harmless to me" she said to herself with a slight smile, she downed the can of beer and then reached out and picked up the remote to switched the television on to horse racing and took up her favourite spot on the couch.

**The Kitchen**

Keitaro grabbed handfuls of paper towels and put them to his nose to soak op the blood, _you handled that situation well,_ he thought to himself.

"Are you alright?" came another voice from behind; he turned around and saw the girl with short blue hair. She was wearing an apron and looked concerned for him.

"I'm fine Shinobu it's just a nose bleed, see the blood has already stopped flowing," he said while taking the paper towels away from his face.

Shinobu gasped, Keitaro's face was covered with blood he looked ridicules with a stupid grin on his face combined with what looked like a pint of blood.

"What?" he asked then caught his reflection in a toaster "Jesus sorry about that" he went over to the sink and wetted some of the paper towels and wiped his face off, he then heard something behind him he like whimpering, he turned around and saw that Shinobu had her head in her hands and was making small whimpering noises.

"Shinobu are you ok," he asked with a bit of concern, he moved over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, she slowly removed her hands and tears were there, but she was also smiling and giggling uncontrollably.

Her face was bright with joy she continued to giggle until she got control of herself, "Sorry you looked so funny I couldn't hep it," she said going slightly red.

"That's ok, I'm happy that I can make you happy" Keitaro said with a smile, she blushed even more 'so what are you up to' he asked.

"I was just preparing Lunch" she replied, gesturing to the kitchen and apron.

"Mind if I help?" he asked with another smile.

Shinobu thought about what Naru had said, _he seems nice enough_, she thought and replied "Sure" giving a small smile, they went about preparing lunch, Keitaro buttered and sliced the bread, while Shinobu prepared all of the different fillings that the girls liked, ham for her and Naru, cheese and tomato for Kitsune, sliced tomatoes and cucumber for Motoko and chocolate spread with bananas for Su.

"What would you like in yours Semp…" she stopped her self "Sorry I di…"

"Its ok you can call me sempai if you want to" Keitaro cut in quickly "and I like chicken with lettuce please."

She blushed slightly "Ok Sempai" she replied with a small smile, _probably Naru was wrong about men,_ she thought while she began to prepare his sandwich.

"I'll go and tell the other while you get the table set if that's ok?" Keitaro asked, as he washed his hands.

"Yes that's fine Sempai" she replied and then Keitaro left as she went about preparing the table.

**First floor corridor**

Keitaro was walking up the stairs, he had told Kitsune about lunch seeing she was in the front room, with another can of beer and he had met Haruka coming down the stairs.

He was just about to start going up the third flight of stairs, when suddenly someone high kicked him in the face, Keitaro flew across from the stairs and into a wall, and Su came bounding up.

"Heyas Keitaro, can you play with me?" she asked jumping up and down.

"I'll play later but now lunch is ready a…"

"REALLY" she shouted and shot of before Keitaro could finish his sentence, he picked him self up and made his way up stairs and to Naru's room, he had found her room number from the book Haruka had gave him.

He knocked on the door and waited patiently.

"Who is it" came a voice from the other side of the door.

"Its Keitaro, I came up to tell you lunch is ready" he replied.

"Ok I'll be down in a minute" she replied.

"Do you want me to wait so we can go down together?" he asked, he wanted to take this chance to be able to talk to Naru seeing as she seemed the most hostile to him.

"No" she replied bluntly.

"Are yo…"

"Yes I'm sure, now go away" she replied with hostility.

"Ok" he said and walked off down the Corridor to Motoko's room, he got to Motoko's room and knocked on the door, no one replied, _where could she be,_ he thought.

He looked around to make sure no one was there, then he centred him self and reached out with his Ki to find her,

"Oh shit" he said aloud.

It was easier than he thought it would be, most people who train in the ways of the sword or Ki, learnt to hide their Ki so they can move without other Ki users picking up on them, which was one reason why Motoko hadn't found Keitaro out yet, but Motoko seemed not to posses this skill and with the fact that she had a very large Ki meant that anyone with the basics of Ki use could sense her a mile off.

"This makes my job of protecting this place much harder," he said out loud to himself.

He started to make his way to the laundry deck, seeing that that was were the large Ki reading was coming from, he came out onto the deck and saw her performing one armed swings with her sword, cutting the falling leaves as they fell in front of her, Keitaro noticed that she had his sword in her belt.

Keitaro made his way onto the deck, "Motoko lun…" he couldn't finish his sentence as Motoko turned around and threw a small knife in his direction, and Keitaro only through amazing reflexes dodged the knife.

"...ch is ready" he finished his sentence as if nothing happened.

"Don't interrupt me while training again" she instructed 'or else you wont be so lucky next time."

"I'll take that in mind" Keitaro replied with a smile and began to walk away, he stopped at the door and looked back "are you coming now or in a minute?" he asked.

She blushed slightly at him asking her to walk with him, as usual she struck out "I can get down stairs by my self thank you" she replied in a hostile tone.

Keitaro nodded and made his way back to the kitchen.

**After lunch**

Lunch had passed uneventful, the only thing Keitaro had noticed was that Motoko and Naru had not said a word to him the whole time, it didn't bother him.

Keitaro was making his way to his room when suddenly Su jumped on his back and hugged him tight, Keitaro felt his ribs protest to the tight hold.

"Keitaro will you play with me now you promised?" she pleaded.

"Yes I did promise didn't I, so what game do you want to play?" Keitaro asked with a smile at the girl on his back.

"Really you will play with me," she said happily, jumping off his back to talk to him face to face.

"I promised didn't I" he replied, then his face went serious "but there is one thing" he said with a serious tone.

"What's that?" she asked her interest peaked.

"I wont go easy on you" he said then shot off down the corridor.

Su stood there momentarily stunned then her face lit up in a joyous smile then she began the chase.

**Midnight**

Keitaro had played with Su all the way to dinnertime; he was shocked by the end of it that Su still had a lot of energy left, they had placed tag, hide and seek and another game that combined the two but involving type of stun gun invented by Su.

After that Keitaro had gone off and helped Shinobu cook dinner, they had worked in comfortable silence once again and just like lunch, dinner passed uneventfully the same went for time after dinner, one by one the girls had turned in leaving only Haruka, who had gave him the keys to the house so he could lock up for the night.

He locked up all of the doors on higher floors, like the roof and the laundry deck; he then went down stairs and locked the front door with him outside, and he then made his way into the small forest behind the house.

He did this every night; seeing as it was really hard for him to get to sleep he found that performing a rigorous training session was enough for him to gain sleep and when he did all he could do was sleep up against the wall with his sword clutched tight to him.

Once he was far enough in he began to focus and canter his Ki, he then began a very complex and fast kata, first he drew the wooden sword, as he would a sheathed sword, then he spun on his heel brining the sword around in a fast motion spinning it around in his hand, then he performed a back flip seven feet away from his original position, not disturbing a single branch while he practically flew threw the air, he landed with perfect grace, but suddenly went rigid.

_Someone is trying to get in the house_, he thought to him self, as he felt several people coming up to the front door, Keitaro deposited the wooden sword in his belt then shot off in the direction of the house,

**The front door to the house**

Five men stood at the door all were dressed in the same black hooded jackets, they had various weapons, two of them had baseball bats, another had a sledge hammer and another had an axe, the final guy, who was the leader, had a handgun in his right hand.

"Come on man, I thought you said you were good with locks" the leader asked the follower who was kneeling in front of the door eye level with the lock.

"Give me a second man, I've almo…"

CLICK

The door swung open "Aww yeah I'm the man" said the man who had just picked the lock.

"Hello there" came a cold voice from behind the men they all turned around and saw Keitaro "is it a social call or a business one" he asked in a cold mocking voice.

The leader shivered then pointed his finger at the man and ordered, "Get him" and all of the men ran forwards.

One with a baseball bat came running at Keitaro with his bat raised high, Keitaro drew his wooden sword and struck the man across the chest while drawing, causing the man to fall to the floor clutching his chest, Keitaro the spun on his heel bringing the wooden sword around and hitting the kneeling man in the head and knocking him out.

The man with the axe came forwards swinging his axe at Keitaro's chest from a side wards attack, Keitaro ducked under the swing and when it had past he brought his sword up in a fast motion striking the man between the legs, _That's two down, _Keitaro thought.

The remaining two came at Keitaro from both sides, on his right the sledge hammer, his left the remaining baseball bat, the man with sledge hammer ran forwards with the hammer, attempting to ram it into Keitaro's chest, Keitaro moved slightly and allowed the hammer to pass by him, which he grabbed with his left hand, Keitaro then pulled the hammer closer to him so the man holding it was an inch away from Keitaro.

The man with the bat came running forwards and brought his bat down with a powerful two handed strike, Keitaro moved his head causing the bat to miss his head and hit the man with the sledgehammer in the head, knocking him out. Keitaro then thrust the head of the sledgehammer into the now shocked man's stomach, driving the air out of his body and causing him to keel over clutching his stomach.

CLICK

The sound of a gun being cocked came from behind Keitaro "You may have foiled us this time but I will make sure you wont med…" the leader couldn't finish his sentence as Keitaro seemed to just vanish for one second then appear right next to the leader, Keitaro brought his wooden sword down in a powerful two handed strike.

The strike hit the man on his forearm, shattering the bone and causing the gun to fall to the ground harmlessly, through the force of the strike the wooden sword also shattered causing splinters to shower down on the leader and Keitaro, luckily Keitaro saw it coming and was able to shield his eyes, but the leader got a face full, he fell to the ground clutching his face in pain.

Keitaro looked at his now useless wooden sword, _how am I going to explain this to Motoko,_ was his only thought, he put the handle of the sword in his belt and went over to the man clutching his stomach, he knelt down to speak to him.

"You have transportation yes" Keitaro asked in his cold voice.

The man shuddered and nodded.

"Good I want you and him" Keitaro pointed at the man who he had hit in the crotch, the man still held onto his groin area whimpering "to get all of your friend down to you vehicle and down to the hospital ok" the man nodded again and got up, showing great amount of pain in doing so than began to try and get the man holding his groin up as well "I also think that we all should forget that this happened" Keitaro instructed, with a dangerous tone "or else next time I wont go easy on you", the two men swallowed and nodded out of shear terror.

Keitaro walked over to the leader, who was reaching for the gun on the ground with his left hand, Keitaro walked up and stepped on his hand, then lent down and picked the gun up "I think I will hold on to this for you if that's ok" Keitaro said.

The leader looked up at Keitaro, his right eye was covered with blood and looked beyond repair, the man's eye held hatred, hatred for the man standing in front of him.

Keitaro shook his head the said "Don't even think about it, if you walk down the path of revenge all you will find is more broken limbs and if you still continue it will eventually lead to you demise and I promise you that."

The man seemed to be ignoring Keitaro and just held his defiant look.

Keitaro shook his head again "Suit yourself" he said then walked off into the house and locked the door behind him.

* * *

**Authors notes;** As I said before sorry for spelling mistakes and grammar, I do try and once again sorry for all of the talking and little action, it is going to pick up, I just want to lay the story down first.

**Answers to reviews and comments**

Some of you have expressed the opinion of why Keitaro is excepting all the Bullshit, well like I said it is a combination between Keitaro and Kenshin and it would be so out of character for them to actually fight back and I am not a Naru basher, I don't like Naru, but I am not a basher.

Some of you have also asked about other Kenshin characters, well I am going with Love Hina universe so no, I will include characters of my own creation that will be similar to Kenshin characters and their role in the story will be similar as well, one being that I am considering bringing in a character that resembles Hiko as Keitaro's master, this includes sword styles and techniques as well as Keitaro's killer name.

I will try to update within a week, I don't have a lot of time spare to write, so if I don't just be patient.


	4. Discovery

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything but a pair of old socks and the computer that I am composing this narrative to you on.

**Authors notes:** Sorry for the wait but life is hectic at the moment, but enough about that, once again sorry for all talk and barely any action, it is going to pick up, but I want you to see what I see and for that to happen we are going to have to cover all the bases.

* * *

**The next day in the living room**

Keitaro had attempted sleep, but to no avail, he in then found himself cleaning the living room, which he had attempted earlier.

Sunlight shone through the window onto the now spotless living room, Keitaro just finishing off his cleaning frenzy, had been up all night but still looked refreshed and sober, he gave away no sign of fatigue.

The clock in the living room showed 06:30, _Might as well take a bath_, he thought to himself making his way up to the mans bath, which was just a wooden tub, which was no wear near as comfortable and relaxing as the hot spring, _its fine I have had it worse,_ he thought to himself looking on the brighter side of things.

He entered the men's bathroom; he didn't take notice of the fact that he had left the door slightly open as he began to undress.

**Outside the men's bathroom**

Motoko was just making her way down to the hot springs, she noticed that the men's bathroom door was not closed so she walked up to it to close it then froze.

Through the small crack she could see Keitaro undressing himself for a bath, she blushed furiously as she found her gaze wandering along his back, as she had observed earlier, Keitaro was not buffed but toned, she could see his muscles flexing as he pulled his hakama over his head.

She felt very strange and hot for some reason, she found herself blushing even more at these feeling; now Keitaro was removing his gi pants, it was all to much for her, she hastily got up and ran down stairs to the hot spring.

Keitaro looked around, _hmm thought I heard something,_ he thought to himself as he made his way to the door to fully close it "Don't want the girls peeping on me" he said out loud, then laughed to himself "Yeah like that will happen" he replied to himself as he took of his underwear and got into the tub allowing the warm water to loosen his muscles.

**Kitchen**

Shinobu was in the kitchen making breakfast and preparing everyone's lunch, while she was preparing some vegetables Motoko, suddenly walked into the kitchen up to the sink, poured her self a glass of water and downed it.

Shinobu noticed that Motoko looked rather flustered and was very red in the face "Motoko sempai are you all right" she asked.

Motoko looked at her slightly confused "Why do you ask" she replied.

"Well you look very red in the face today and something looks like its bothering you" Shinobu replied while fiddling with her apron.

Motoko froze, _is it that obvious,_ she smiled, though it was obvious it was forced "I'm fine Shinobu but thank you for asking" she said sounding slightly hysterical.

Though it seemed to fool Shinobu "Oh that's great I was a little worried" the young girl replied with a genuine smile, she went back to preparing breakfast and started humming a cheerful tune to herself.

Motoko felt a slight pang off guilt for lying to the young girl, as she watched her preparer the meals with youthful ignorance to realities of the world.

"I'm going to take a bath" Motoko informed the young girl.

"Okay" Replied Shinobu without looking up.

Motoko left the room passing Haruka, who also noticed the kendo girls red face "something wrong Motoko" she asked.

"No nothing at all I need to go," replied Motoko as she hastily escaped the older women. Haruka watched the girl basically run to the hot springs and just shook her head at the girl's antics, she turned around and entered the kitchen to see Shinobu preparing breakfast and the school lunches.

Something then dawned on Haruka, _That's going to make things interesting,_ she thought "Shinobu, after breakfast do you think you could get everyone to meet me in the living room ok" she asked the young chef.

"Aren't you going to stay for breakfast?" Shinobu asked looking at the older women.

"No, I have something I need to take care off at the tea shop" Haruka replied as she grabbed a piece of toast and walked out of the kitchen.

Shinobu just returned to making the breakfast, she began humming to herself again; she could hear movement from above her.

**THUD**

The sound of something hitting the floor came from above Shinobu, the room slightly shook and the sound went through the entire kitchen, but she didn't flinch as it happened every morning around this time, it was Kitsune falling out off bed after another night of heavy drinking.

Shinobu then could hear the uneasy and lethargic steps from the fox girl as she made her way across the second floor hall, then she could hear Kitsune practically fall down the steps.

Shinobu filled a mug with fresh hot coffee and handed it to the fox girl the minute she entered the kitchen, Kitsune didn't seem to notice the actions of the young girl, because it happened every morning, she would get up and come down stairs to a freshly made cup of coffee, it was routine that the two girls had gotten into that neither seemed to notice how perfectly synced their morning actions were.

Kitsune sat down at the table and laid across it moaning, Shinobu didn't seem to notice or didn't pity the women at all seeing as it was all self inflicted, she just continued to make the breakfast, which was almost done.

Naru then entered the kitchen in a much more graceful fashion, she went and madder self a cup of coffee, she sat down across from Kitsune and began to drink.

"Where is everyone?" Naru asked to no one in particular.

Shinobu was the one to reply, "Motoko is in the bath, Haruka is out and will be back after breakfast and Keitaro is…"

"I don't really care where he is along as it's not around me," Naru said cutting across Shinobu who looked confused.

"Why are you like that Naru sempai, he hasn't done anything wrong?" Shinobu said, though it was in a very small voice.

"Look Shinobu you are young and naïve, you don't realise the severity of the situation" Naru said in a very patronising tone. Shinobu looked slightly hurt by the girl's words.

"I I I…" Shinobu stuttered holding back the tears that were threatening to come out.

"Naïve? Huh that's a joke" Kitsune came to the young girls rescue, her tone was slightly mocking "you are the child here Naru, he hasn't done anything wrong and all you do is put him down" Kitsune was now standing and looking Naru straight in the eye.

"Now if you want to be all weird and pissy about him then that's fine, but don't push your feeling and opinions on other people as if they are fact because that is just wrong" Kitsune took a breath after her rant.

Naru stood up "We don't even know who he is and what about that scar he could have got that from girl he was trying to rape or som…" Naru couldn't finish her sentence as Kitsune slammed her fist down on the table.

"There you go again making wild and stupid assumptions about something you don't even understand and why don't you just try to get to know…"

Keitaro walked in just at that moment "What are you guys talking about" he asked cheerfully seeming to not have heard a word of the conversation they were having.

"Oh just girl stuff" Kitsune said in a neutral tone, some how going from angry to her normal self in a matter of a second "right Naru?" she gestured to the said girl.

"Yeah just girl stuff" she replied in the most neutral voice she could muster, though it seemed to work.

"Then I don't really want to know" Keitaro replied while making himself some tea.

"There is some coffee if you want some" Shinobu said gesturing to the pot, she didn't make tea in the morning seeing as no one drank any at that time of day.

"That's ok I'm not a fan of coffee my self and I prefer tea" Keitaro replied with a smile, the young girl blushed slightly.

"Pervert" Naru whispered under her voice.

"What was that Naru?" Kitsune asked.

"Nothing" she replied.

Motoko then entered the room in her school uniform with Su right behind her, "yay bweakfest" cried Su as she rushed to the table, everyone took up their places, on the left hand side of the table Keitaro sat to the left hand side of what is the head of the table, were Haruka usually sat.

Next to him was Su and next to her was Motoko, on the other side opposite Motoko sat Shinobu who sat next to Naru and next to her was Kitsune, who was to right hand side of the head of the table, it was strange how fast routine set in to the house, even though it had been only two days Keitaro already had a place in the general structure of the hinata house.

Nobody spoke right off until Keitaro spoke "Erm Motoko would it be possible if I could get hold of another wooden sword?"

Motoko took a sip of her drink then turned to face him "what happened to the one I gave you?" she inquired with a raised eyebrow.

Keitaro swallowed "erm I sort of broke it while training."

"When were you training?" Kitsune asked "you were with us all of yesterday."

"I was training during the night but I struck a little to hard" he replied, everyone was quite and contemplating the information they had just received, all except Su who just continued to eat.

"Was it you who cleaned the living room?" Shinobu asked in a very small voice.

"Yes I did" Keitaro replied, all of the residents looked at him.

"I wonder what else you did during the night while we were all asleep" Naru asked with venom dripping of her words.

Keitaro was about to retort when Shinobu spoke up "after breakfast Haruka wants all of us to meet her in the living room before we head off to school."

"I wonder what for" Kitsune asked.

"I don't know, she didn't say" Shinobu replied, everyone went silent, until Keitaro broke the silence again.

"So can I get another wooden sword?" he asked again, looking at Motoko who seemed to be ignoring him.

"No, you are to clumsy and careless to be trusted with me things" she replied with out even showing any emotion.

Keitaro looked like he was about to protest, then stopped himself and thought better of it.

The rest of the meal passed in silence, when everyone was finished they all made their way into the living room.

"Hmm you did a good job" complemented Kitsune while looking around at the young mans work; Motoko was also observing his work, though she seemed to have a more critical eye that Kitsune.

After a moment she sighed and though it seemed to aggravate her to do so, she also complimented Keitaro on his work, the said man just smiled and raised his hand to the scratch the back of his head.

"Calm down or else it will go to his head," said Haruka as she walked into the room, everyone took their seats and faced her waiting for what she had to say.

When she saw she had everyone's attention you began to speak "School is cancelled" she announced.

**Meanwhile in a hospital in central Tokyo**

"He's just up here Miss Yamashita," said the young doctor to the women behind him as they walked up a busy hospital corridor, the young doctor was shocked that she seemed to have heard him over all of the noise around them.

All the way up the corridor there seemed to be at least someone in pain, shouts of agony was coming from all around them, calls for doctors, nurses, medication and sometime the sounds off pleas for death could be heard and not just from the corridor but from other level of the building as well.

When the young doctor was first leading the young women up the corridor a scream of complete and utter agony was heard through out the Hospital, at the sound of it even some of the other patients stopped moaning at the sound and for a brief second quietened down.

As if they were ashamed of their own behaviour when there was someone in true pain somewhere in the hospital, but alas it must have only been a fleeting thought because the dreadful din returned full force a mere second later.

The sound was nothing compared to the sight of the place though, the doctor could remember when he first started here as a intern and how the sterile white corridors would almost shine, but now the floors and even some of the wall where covered with blood.

With there being no staff free to take care of basic things as cleaning up, they now had to be left, it brought a terrible smell about the place because of it, it was general state of the Hospital, with at least a thousand people coming and going a day had left the toilettes in a state that would make even the most seediest bars toilettes look like a five star hotel one's.

So that was the scene around the two people walking down the corridor, both stepping over bodies, mostly living but some dead, until they came to a door.

The Doctor turned around and looked at the young women, she was of a petite stature, with shoulder length brown hair. She had a sweet round face with big green eyes and a pair of glasses balanced on the end of her nose.

The young doctor smiled "Are you ready?" he asked, she swallowed and tightened her lips up and nodded, the Doctor nodded back and pushed open the door.

It was a small room, with one window and one small single bed with a small cabinet next to it.

On the bed lay a large man, who seemed to big for the bed, an IV was hooked up to his body, but that was all there was no machines monitoring him nothing.

"Why is he just on the drip?" asked the young women, her voice sounded strained and her hands were clasped together in front of her, the Doctor picked up the mans chart and looked over it.

"Well your brother is stable, health wise he is fine" said the Doctor looking up at the young women.

"What wrong with him then?" she asked looking as if she was on the verge of tears.

The Doctor swallowed "Well Miss Yamashita he received a serious blow to back that damaged his spine" said the Doctor, he had not been informed that she was unaware of the mans condition, usually he would have liked to have prepared to give this kind news not be thrown in like this.

"What does that mean?" she asked, a single tear coming from her right eye, it ran all the way down her rounded cheeks and to her chin then fell to the floor, the Doctor had followed the tear with his eyes.

"It means that he is paralyzed from waist down, your brother will never be able to walk again" he said, now the young women went into full sobs taking her glasses off and crying into her hands.

This was one of the parts that the Doctor hated about his job, weather it be the annunciation of a loved one's death, eventual death or like now some kind of disability that can not be cured, it was all to hard some times.

The look in there eyes the hope that he could have fixed the issue flowing out of their eyes and now filled with sorrow and sometime anger, anger with him and lack of power they have.

This was harder for him for he had not be able to prepare, just thrown into it, for he too felt powerless and regret at the fact that he cant help.

He placed the chart back in it place and walked toward the door.

"I will give you sometime alone with him" the Doctor said, she just nodded with her head still in her hands.

The Doctor nodded and left the room, shutting the door behind him and making his way back to the main desk.

Back in the room the young women made her way to bed and stood next to man, her eyes had puffed up slightly, but she had gained control of her self now, she lightly shook the man until he woke.

The man stirred and opened his eyes slightly, in front of him stood a sweet round face with big green eyes and glasses.

"Toki, what are you doing here?" the man asked, he smiled slightly.

"I could ask you the same question" she replied, with a slight smile, grabbing her brothers hand and putting it to her face so she could feel him and him her.

"Who did this to you?" she asked with concern, the man's eyes seemed to light up with fear.

"An evil and dangerous man, he attacked me and my friends and seemed to take us down before we even heard the sound of our bodies hitting the ground" the man sounded terrified even though he was just talking about the man with the black sheathed sword.

"What did he look like?" asked Toki.

The large man seemed obliged to tell the story "I remember he had a scar across his right eye and his eyes…" the man shuddered at the memory.

"His eyes were like steel, they held no emotion" the man stopped there shuddering and crying slightly at the memory of the man.

"What else do you remember about him?" Toki asked, seeming to be on the verge of tears again.

"He wore samurai clothing, you know like in an anime and he carried a black sheathed sword…" at the mention of the weapon man seemed to clamp up in fear.

"Where was this?" Toki asked, now crying while wrapping her arms around the man to try and comfort him.

**Back at the main desk**

The young doctor went through a door next to the main desk that led to the staff area and canteen, it was time for his break and he needed a few minutes to rest, he took a seat on a large couch in front of a small TV, around him sat a other Hospital staff exhausted from the day's work.

"We have to interrupt this whether forecast for a special report," said a busty woman with long blond hair on the TV.

"Can't believe that the TV is still running with the way things are?" said a male nurse to the young Doctors left.

"Yeah Police, Schools, Public Transport and the majority of Retail store shut down but Television is still going" said a young intern to the young Doctors right.

"I heard that some big Yakuza boss is paying them to keep running or something" said a young intern next to the one who had spoken before.

"Why would the Yakuza do that, there is no reason to it" said an elderly Doctor who sat next to the male nurse, after that an argument erupted between the two groups, which amazingly seemed to be split between the people to the young Doctors right and Left.

Thinking it pointless to get involved the young Doctor decided to watch the special report that was about half way through.

"Just in we have got the identity of the victim of this violent crime," said a petite news reporter with short raven hair, then a picture appeared in the top right corner of the screen of young women.

At that point all of the Doctor's senses seemed to freeze up, a young women with shoulder length brown hair a sweet round face with big green eyes and a pair of glasses balanced on the end of her nose, stared out of the screen at him from the picture in the top right screen.

"A Miss Toki Yamashita was found dead in her home today, she has be diagnosed as being dead for…" the young Doctor did not wait to listen to the rest of the report he got up and rushed out of the room.

All of the medical staff stopped arguing and watched as the young Doctor sped off while calling for security to follow him, intrigued they all got up and followed.

The young Doctor sped of down the corridor, two large men dressed in grey suits with badges that read 'SECURITY' followed behind him.

When they reached the room, the security guards pulled out a handgun each and entered the room with their weapons raised, the Doctor followed behind and rushed to the man on the bed, but it was to late, he throat was slit with blood everywhere, his white sheets now stained crimson.

One of the guards picked up some clothing next to the bed, among the clothing there was a wig, a pair of glasses and a rubber mask, all had been used to make the culprit look like Toki Yamashita.

The other guard went over to now open window and looked out of it, they were on the sixth floor so it was quite a drop, but it must have been the criminals escape route.

The Doctor looked at the now dead man's face, it was etched with fear and confusion, the doctor shook his head "What a way to die" he said to himself, the guards looked up at him.

"To be killed thinking that the killer is someone you love, it is a cruelty I have never heard of before" he said to himself then he turned around walked out of the room passing the medical staff from the staff room, all now looking in shock at the dead man on the bed.

**A Warehouse in central Hinata**

It was around midnight when the group gathered at the abandoned warehouse, there was about thirty of them, all armed with a mixture of crude but lethal weapons, their vehicles, mainly black vans, were parked in various places around the large warehouse, some with their lights on low to provide a light source.

All of them wore a black Jacket of the same make, with the Kanji symbols for Black panther on it, each of the members had made some kind of personal change to the jacket, some had sewed on various patches of favourite bands and sports teams, some of the more sinister looking ones having human parts, such as fingers, ears and noses hanging from theirs by hooks or fishing line.

They were all lazing about on the boxes and crates left in the warehouse, each was wearing black and each looked like they came from the most darkest parts that Hinata had to offer.

The sound of a vehicle came from outside of the warehouse, some turned the lights of the vehicles and the rest of the men hid in various spots and stubbed out cigarettes to stop from being spotted in the dark, one man made his way across to the big double doors and peered through a small hole, he turned around to warehouse and called out.

"Its ok it's the Boss" he said as he opened the door, a black van drove in, all of the men came out of the hiding places and returned to their relaxed poses, some relighting cigarettes as they watched the van enter the warehouse.

When the engine was cut on the van the back doors opened, revealing several men dressed the same as the one already in the warehouse, the last man got out of the back, his right arm in a cast and sling, his jacket hung from his shoulders and seemed to be to most sinister of the bunch, with all manner of human parts hanging from his jacket arms.

He stepped in the middle and rose his good arm above him "Panthers" he said aloud to get their attention, utter respect seemed to be across all of the men's faces as they listened intently.

He understood why they revered him so, ever since the country had started to go down hill.

Six months ago he had killed his first man, he remembered how he had gone back to his shabby little apartment and just waited for the police to come, he new they would find him easy, but after five days of waiting no one came, he later on found out that the police had just ruled it as a suicide and left it.

Ever since then the man never went back to his apartment in fear again, after three months he had started up the Black Panthers, a group of fighters who would go about taking what they wanted and fought with other groups like them for supremacy over certain territories and the Panthers were looking at expanding.

"Boys, we got some killing to do" the leader announced aloud to the men, an excited murmur went among the men, the leader then continued.

"It seems a new gang has come about in Hinata" he said, the men's face lighting up to the fact that when a new gang came around they would usually be small meaning easy killing for them.

"Though this wont be a walk in the park for they are strong" he said, the men's face going from glee to confusion, the leader continued.

"Me and a couple of the boys were up at that Hinata Inn when one of them attacked us" he said looking about the men.

"Was he the one that did your arm in boss?" asked one of the younger members.

"Yes and he took down four others as well" he looked about his men, all now with mixed looks, some with the look of glee and anticipation at a good fight, but the majority seeming scared that they would have to face one so strong.

"What was this man like?" came a question from the group of men, the leader could not place were it came from or who it was, though he felt slightly unnerved at the pitch of the man's voice, which was high.

"He was a strange man, he wore samurai clothing and carried a wooden sword" the leader replied while looking to some of the men around him who were there to, they nodded as if to confirm what eh said.

"Do you remember anything else, like a scar or a black sheathed sword?" the voice asked again, now sounding close to cracking up with laughter, at what was what unnerved the leader most and now most of his men.

"Who is that, Yamagata take a name check" no reply came "Yamagata, Yamagata were are y…" the leader stopped mid sentence as the voice was now laughing hysterically at his attempts.

"I am afraid that your friend Yamagata will not be joining us" the voice said with sound of utmost glee, it was rubbing all of the men the wrong way, all now gathered around their leader all manner of weapons brandished.

"Were is he?" the leader said with venom, drawing out a handgun with his left hand and pointing it into the darkness.

"Its ok you can see him right now" said the voice then all of the lights went out and the sound of hysterical laughter filled the air, which got closer and closer then was answered with sound of a man crying out in agony.

Something hit the leader on the face, it felt like some kind of liquid, then he tasted some on his lips, it was blood.

Another scream came to the leaders right he felt the men around him scatter, the room was filled with sounds of Hysterical laughter and the screaming of men in agony, the leader fired his gun in the direction of the laughter, but only was then returned with sound of man shouting out.

"ARRRR, someone shot me" it was the young man from earlier, the leader made his way to the boy, tripping slightly over what must have been bodies, the laughter and screaming still going on about him.

He reached the lad then put the gun back in its holster and got out his cigarette lighter and lit I, it gave little light but he was able to see the boy in front of him, he could see blood coming from the boys mouth and tears from his eyes, while he clutched his chest.

"Bowoss amm I gonnna die?" the boy asked weakly, the leader did not know what to say.

"No son your gonna be just fine, you here me" the leader said in a reassuring manner, he was so wrapped up in trying to help the boy that he did not notice the silence around him.

"How sentimental" came the cold high pitched mocking voice from behind the leader, just as he was turning around something that caught the light of his lighter shot by his face, then a gurgling sound came from the boy.

The leader looked around and now saw a knife sticking out of the boy's throat, his eye lit up with fear and pain, and then his body went limp, the leader looked around his face twisted with anger.

"I'LL KILL YOU" the leader shouted as he ran at the figure in the dark, a long knife in his left hand now thrust forwards towards the figure.

But the strike did not land, the figure twisted out of the strike path and drew a short sword from behind him and slashed at the leaders arm.

For a brief second the leader had though the figure had missed, but then he realised that he couldn't feel his hand anymore and then watched in horror in the dim light as his arm simply fell of and hit the ground, the leader fell to his knees and screamed out in pain, clutching the raw stump of his arm.

"Now…" the figure said to the leader, laughing that high pitched laugh again, walking slowly towards the kneeling man "…you will tell me the location of Takisenoto the manslayer."

* * *

**Author's Notes**: Yes I am finally, back once again I am sorry but I just could not write any more for some reason, even though I had lots of ideas, its like having a word at the tip of your tongue and not being able to say it and it is just frustrating, but probably not as frustrating as you are at me for not updating for so long so once again I am sorry.

The name Takisenoto is completely my creation and there is a reason for it but you can find that out later on, the pronunciation of it if you would like to know is **Takey-sen-ow-too**, ok thank you.


	5. The Plan and Fox Troubles

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything but a pair of old socks and the computer that I am composing this narrative to you on.

**Authors notes: **great to be back, if some of you long time readers had not noticed I have updated my first three chapters, there is nothing new just cleaned up that's all.

* * *

It had been a week since Haruka had made her announcement and as you can imagine it had not gone do all to well, each one of the residents had their own reaction to the news.

Naru obviously felt it hardest, seeing as all her studying was now for nothing, for if the schools were canceled then all of the exams this year would be too, she had fumed and screamed at it being unfair, then had stormed out the room, not before throwing something at Keitaro to take her anger out on.

Motoko had commented on the unfairness of it, but had said that now she can put all of her efforts into her training, then left to most likely do just that.

Shinobu just mumbled something and just walked back into the Kitchen.

It seemed Su was the only one actually happy about the news, as ever since Haruka had made the announcement, Su had been bouncing quite literally of every wall in the room out of happiness, then she sped off, claiming she had much to do, Which made the remaining house mates in the room shudder, at the thought at what she had planned.

Keitaro, Haruka and Kitsune went about their days as normal.

So this had been the general happening in the Hinata house, Naru bitched more than usual and had caused Keitaro a lot more pain than usual.

Motoko trained more than usual and had tested some of her new skills on Keitaro when she felt she had perfected one.

Shinobu had been cooking more than usual and had been doing laundry at a rate that clothing one of the housemates were wearing in morning had been cleaned, dried and ironed by the afternoon.

Su caused more destruction than usual and had blown up Keitaro on several occasions.

With the Teahouse being closed, Haruka had been bored for the first couple of days, but then she started to give Keitaro a hand in cleaning up the mess, caused by the girl's activities.

Kitsune had no issues at first until the middle of the week when she realised that her stock was running low, she had asked if they could get some more for her when they went shopping, but Haruka had said that almost all alcohol stores had been closed and that they only had enough money to be able to pay for their food supply so they couldn't spend it on alcohol and that they were lucky that some of the stores were open anyway.

This as you can imagine had not gone down well, that very night Kitsune had said she was going out for a drink, which led to Haruka once again telling her no because it would be dangerous.

This led to a very loud shouting match between the both of them, which luckily finished around the earlier hours of the morning so Kitsune ended up not going in the end.

A week later and everyone was wound up like a spring, that is except for Keitaro who seemed to just go on as normal, nothing ever seemed to get him down, he went about his jobs with a smile on his face and took punishments from the girls and laughed about it as if it was nothing. Though this generally annoyed Naru, which would just lead to more beatings for Keitaro.

Even though he didn't show it, it had been a tough week for Keitaro, he had only been able to get some sleep once during the week but even then it was only for an hour, no one else had attacked and without a sword of any kind on his person, he had felt naked all week.

Luckily tonight he would get his sword back, he would see if they would let him have it for the night, seeing as he only ever seemed to get some sleep with it clutched close to him, he had been able to go so far without sleep, but his stamina was starting to wear thin.

He luckily had full control of his anger, so all of the girls antics had not been that much of a strain on him, but it was hard to keep up a façade of high spirited individual, but he would last, he didn't know to what end but he would last.

It was a Friday and the day started as all days in the Hinata house did, every one came down for breakfast then went about their day, though some now had little to do,

As Keitaro helped Shinobu wash up, Haruka entered the room ands sat down at the table; she lit up a cigarette and looked at Keitaro then spoke.

"I have been thinking," she said.

"About?" Keitaro asked, not turning away from the dishes.

"Well seeing as everything else is shutting down, we soon wont have any where to get food from" she said taking a drag from her fag and flicking the ash into an a ashtray in the middle of the table.

"That is true so what are you suggesting?" Keitaro asked, still not turning around.

"Well instead of spending our remaining money on supplies why don't we buy something that will mean we will be able to live from for a longer time" she said, taking another drag.

"You mean grow our own food?" Keitaro asked turning around now and looking Haruka in the face, Shinobu, who had been watching the whole exchange piped up.

"That would be good, we have plenty of space we could, have a vegetable garden, maybe some chickens for eggs and maybe even a cow or goat for milk" Keitaro looked over at Shinobu then Haruka, then smiled.

"It could work and it would be an answer to food later on when nowhere is open" Keitaro replied raising his hand to his chin as he thought.

"Yeah I do know a think about chickens and looking after them, I could build a chicken coop just outside the back door" he was now smiling at the idea, though Haruka's mind had drifted slightly.

"When did you even have chickens?" she asked.

"That's irrelevant at the moment" he said, gesturing with his to show that the subject was not up for discussion.

"Some of the other girls can help as well so they will have something to do" Shinobu put in smiling as Haruka nodded at the thought.

"That is true, we all need to start to pull our weight around here, we don't know how long this is going to go on for, but we cant all just sit around and act as if it is going to be alright next week" Haruka sounded very serious, but it was true, it wasn't like a summer holiday and it would be over in a couple of weeks time, none of them new when it may be over so they would have to prepare for a long haul.

Which is exactly what they did, Keitaro, Haruka and Shinobu all sat down and devised what they would need, how much of it they would need and who would get what job, they planned to tell the girls later at lunch about the plan, so the trio split and went about their daily routine.

**Midday In the living room**

Kitsune had been lounging around on the couch watching TV since breakfast, though TV had recently got really boring in the morning with there only being the morning new and re runs of old TV shows, it seemed that nothing new would be on for a while with what has been happening.

She would mainly just watch the news for any new happenings in the country, seeing as the news was the only thing going at full strength with everything happening, it seemed that someone wanted the country informed about what is going on, though Kitsune only considered this for a second as her train of thought was interrupted by an announcer on the TV.

"We have to interrupt this programme for a special report," said a busty woman on TV with long blond hair, Kitsune shifted in her seat and sat up so she could give the TV her full attention.

"We are down at a warehouse in central Hinata, were what can only be described as a massacre has been carried out" announced the petite raven haired women on the screen, behind her was various vans and some ambulances, though none of them were from the police, on the sides of some silver vans behind her read the words 'MORGUE'.

"Through our own investigations we have found out that each of the victims belong to a local gang that go by the name of the Black Panthers, we have counted up to forty members that have been slain here" In the background large black bags were being carried out by men, Kitsune and anybody else who may have been watching the report at the time new that they were the bodies of the dead men.

"It is the consensus of opinion among the people here, that this another one of the ever rising gang crimes that have been on the increase recently, some people have speculated that it may be related to the murder of one Yamagata Sai who was found dead in his apartment just this morning and the murder of a Himuro Yamashita in the central Hospital in Tokyo" Kitsune blinked, _that is quite a speculation isn't it_, she thought to herself while shacking her head at the absurdity of the situation.

"Whatever the reason behind these killings and whether they are connected or not we will never no with continues absence of the police, who know how bad this situation will get, this reporter will just have to say that the man who began this will have to live with all this on his conscience, because he overall is responsible for this trag…" the TV turned off, Kitsune turned around to see Keitaro holding the remote, Kitsune was about to protest when she saw the look on his face, his eyes held I kind of wrath or rage that she had never seen before, his lips were set tight in a thin line and all of the muscles of his face looked strained, like he was holding something in.

Though it only was a mere moment that he was like this, Kitsune had caught it, Keitaro then smiled widely and turned to Kitsune.

"I just came in to tell you that lunch is ready and if you could with me to the kitchen to help set the table?" he asked in the same tone he always used and the same expression he always heard, for a brief second, after seeing what hi face was like in that moment, Kitsune thought that his personality seemed some what forced, but she pushed it out of her mind and smiled back at him.

"Sure I don't have anything better to do" so she got up and followed him into the Kitchen, Shinobu was in there, making the finishing touches on everyone's lunches, while Keitaro and Kitsune set the table in silence, what ever fleeting thought was squashed as she watched Keitaro act the way he always did, with no worries and a care free smile plastered to his face.

Everyone had remained in his or her place after lunch because Haruka had said you that she wanted to talk to them all; all of the girls looked at Haruka who sat at the other end of the table opposite were Keitaro sat.

"As you all know a lot of things have changed and a lot of things are going to change with the way things are" all of the girls nodded.

"Well we have to consider that with all of this change that we are going to have to change as well" Haruka looked at everyone individual before she continued.

"For example, we will all have to start pulling our weight around here and soon we will all have to live self-sufficiently" Haruka took in a few of the girls faces, Naru and Kitsune looked slightly annoyed, Naru more, but Motoko and Su looked confused.

"What does Self-Sufficiently mean?" asked Motoko looking around the group for an answer.

"Yeah does it taste good?" Asked Su, Haruka smiled at both of the girl's naiveties.

"Self-Sufficiently isn't a food, it means we will need to grow and rear our own food, so we can survive" Though Su didn't seem that bothered; Motoko's face went to one of annoyance.

"You mean live like a farmer, like a peasant, such a thing is not befitting of a warrior" Motoko said while crossing her arms and looking away from Haruka.

"This is exactly what I am on about" Haruka said, her tone slightly icy, Motoko jumped when she heard her and turned around to look at Haruka.

"We cant go around doing what we normally do anymore cos things have changed and there is no sign of them changing back anytime soon, we all need to adapt, stop being in denial and some of you just need to grow up" Haruka stopped herself there and put her hand over her mouth.

"I'm sorry I di…" but she was cut off as an unexpected person that jumped in.

"No you are right we all do need to grow up," Shinobu said, now standing up raising herself to her fullest height.

"Haruka is right, you are all just in denial at the moment, ever since that night I have been thinking that we have all been to relaxed at the moment and I too had started to live in a kind of denial, until I saw the shape of things when I went shopping with Haruka and it made me realise that we need to prepare not sit back and just hope" everyone was shocked at how strong Shinobu's voice had been, as if it had been bottled up for a long time then exploded just at that point, though she went bright red at the end of it from embarrassment and sat down so fast that she almost fell of the chair, but the rest of the girls were to busy thinking over her words to notice.

"Thank you Shinobu, she is right what happened that night should have been a wake up call for all of you, not just to the dangers but the responsibilities we all have to each other as a family" while Haruka talked to the girls Keitaro watched from the other side of the table.

He marvelled at how Haruka was right about them being a family, though he felt not himself personally, he thought the best way to describe himself in his relationship to the girls was exactly what his position was, he was the manager, the house keeper, a janitor, whatever noun you wanted to use, it all boiled down to him not really being a part of this group, it wasn't the way the girls had treated him, it was just how he felt, he never felt like he belonged anywhere or had a place, while Keitaro was having this enlightening, yet slightly melancholic monologue, he had not noticed that Haruka had asked him a question.

"HEY" She shouted, Keitaro came back to his senses and had a look of confusion on his face.

"Err," He said back, Haruka shook her head, which a lot of the other girls did as well.

"Probably thinking of something perverted," Naru said, Motoko and Su nodded to the idea, while everyone else just shook their heads.

"I was just asking you to tell the girls about you idea" Haruka told Keitaro while relighting her cigarette.

"Oh yeah I can build a chicken coop out the back so we can have chickens to lay eggs and if we get a good cock w…" before he could finish his sentence Naru had jumped up and ran over to him in a matter of a second then smacked him across the face really hard, which sent him crashing into the wall.

"Pervert" she said menacingly, her arm and fist still in the position it was when she had delivered the punch, once again Motoko and Su were both nodding in agreement, while the rest of the table were just shacking their heads.

"You do realise he meant a Cockerel as in a male chicken" Kitsune said, opening one eye slightly to give Naru a stern look.

"Yeah that's what I meant" Keitaro said while getting up and dusting himself off, his cheek slightly swollen and a bruise could be seen coming up, but other than that he looked fine, with that big and carefree smile plastered across his face.

"Yeah whatever" Naru said as she took her seat again and Keitaro his.

"Continue Keitaro?" Haruka asked.

"Well like I said before, I can build a coop and if we get some chickens and a Cockerel, we could have our own eggs and even eat the ones that are not laying, so that would cover some of our food issues" Haruka nodded and looked around the girls.

"And we thought that we could actually grow some vegetables and fruit as well we have plenty of space and the ground here is pretty fertile" Haruka said, looking each of the girls in the face once again.

"So do all of you approve of this?" Haruka asked, though everyone new that she really didn't care if the approved or not, her asking was more of a politeness than an actual need of opinion, so no one answered and just nodded to show their understanding.

"Ok well get your rest cos starting tomorrow you are all going to have to start helping and that will include around the house too, as Keitaro will start building his coop tomorrow" she nodded in Keitaro's direction, he just smiled and nodded back.

"And from now on, I don't want anyone in any circumstance, to go out with either me or Keitaro" her voice was stern, but you could hear the worry behind it.

"Hey why not Motoko" asked Naru looking towards the said girl who also looked annoyed at not being mentioned.

"Yes why is it that this weakling can be thought strong and responsible enough to take care of someone and I am not" Motoko pointed at Keitaro during her slight rant, Keitaro just looked on and smiled as usual, not really wanting to get involved.

"Cos in the event that you are attacked by a large group of guys, you can just throw Keitaro at them and run off while they beat him up for spare change" Haruka said, knowing that it would appeal to the girls way of thinking, though in actual event she new it would actually end a lot differently, especially if you threw him in among them, _that wouldn't be pretty_, Haruka thought to herself.

Her scheme had worked perfectly of course, all of the girls laughed and visualised what the scene would be like, all of which was as far away from Haruka's vision to the actual truth than could be. Keitaro even joined in, even though it was at his own expense.

The group split up after that, Haruka's little move working wonders on morale as she thought it would have.

**Kitsune's room late afternoon**

Kitsune had just came up from dinner, nothing special happened except when Motoko's hand had brushed Keitaro's when reaching for the soy sauce, which led to him getting smacked over the head by her and being verbally harassed by both Naru and Su, though it seemed to Kitsune that Su didn't really mean it as she would be talking and playing with Keitaro a few minutes later, though in the long run Kitsune didn't think any of it seemed to bother Keitaro any way.

Though Kitsune didn't have time to be thinking about that at the moment she had some clubbing that she needed to be doing.

She had listened to Haruka and she new the dangers, but she had not had a drink in about two days now and it was killing her, without the aid of alcohol she would start to remember then she would just destroy herself from the inside out.

She entered her room and locked the door behind it, then she undressed to her underwear and went over to her closet, she pulled out a pair of white trousers with a black leather belt, then she pulled out a white sleeveless top with glitter on and then she fumbled about a bit in the bottom of her draw and pulled out a white pair of open toe high heeled sandals.

She went over to her mirror and applied a bit of makeup, some eyeliner and ruby red lipstick, and then she dressed herself in the cloths, except for the sandals, picked up her purse and then went over to the window.

She got hold of one of the drain pipes and slid down to the bottom, making sure not to get dirt on her clothing so it took a little longer that she would have liked, but she got there. She then stealthily made her way across to the stairs up to Hinata; she only stopped to duck once, when Shinobu had stuck her head out of a window to look at the sky that had an array of stars showing.

When she got to the stairs she slipped the sandal on then made her way down the stairs,_ suckers,_ she thought to herself as she sped of into town to raise hell.

**Half an hour later third floor corridor**

Keitaro stepped off the staircase and on to the hardwood flooring of the third floor corridor and walked purposely towards Motoko's room.

He had been thinking of this moment all week and it had been torturing him all day, but he had schemed that if he asked for his sword later in the day, there would be more chance of him being able to keep it for the night.

He smiled as he walked towards the door he was now only three more strides away from the door when suddenly.

"I AM GOING TOO KILL HER" a voice shouted from downstairs, Keitaro froze in mid step, _That was Haruka_, he thought to himself, but he decided to ignore her and continued for the door, but only when he took his second step and was now only two strides away when.

"KEITARO WHERE ARE YOU?" Haruka shouted, _FUCK_, Keitaro thought to himself, he looked at the door in front of him, so close he had been.

"I'M COMING," he shouted down, he made his way downstairs to see Haruka standing outside of Kitsune's room, as Keitaro walked towards her he watched as she took angry drags from her cigarette and not even taking the chance to exhale the smoke.

"She's gone, I can't believe that she would be so thoughtless" She said, sounding frantic and aggravated, a crowd was forming now, Su and Shinobu had appeared at the same time Keitaro had and now Naru had come down, Haruka dropped her cigarette on the floor and stubbed it out with her slipper.

"I am going to kill her when you bring her back" she said in the same tone, which in normal circumstances would have been plenty of warning for Keitaro not to protest, but like most men, when he has his mind on one thing, he ends up not giving much consideration to anything else.

"What do you mean when I bring her back?" he asked, showing a slight bit of frustration, Haruka looked at him and fixed him with a stare, the kind of scare all women have in their arsenal of tools that they use, you know the one were even a charging hippopotamus would suddenly have second thoughts if they received it, which is exactly what Keitaro had.

"I'll go and look then" he said suddenly, then turned around and sped off, if he had been thinking coherently at the time he would have considered to ask for his sword, but confusion and carelessness are two of the many side effect of the stare.

**A club in Hinata**

Kitsune had been having a great time so far, this was her fourth club of the night, she had danced with some cute guys and she was wasted, you know the kind of drunk were coherent thought had gone out the window ages ago.

She sat at the bar sipping on a drink, which was a cocktail of at least three other drinks, it was close to midnight,_ I think I will call it a night now_, she thought to herself, she downed the last of her drink, picked up her purse and made her way across to the entrance, but not unnoticed.

In one corner of the club sat eight big burley men, who all wore dark red Jackets with Kanji on the back that said 'Hidden Vipers', the biggest of the group, who had a shaved head, with very dull features to his face and a big bulbous nose watched Kitsune as she left the club, he smiled to himself and got up and followed her, while the other seven led behind him in an obedient fashion.

Outside Kitsune was leaning up against a wall to stead herself, _oook Kit gwt a hol oth Ye sef_, she told herself, though part of her was really worried if she was slurring her thoughts.

She pushed herself of the wall and walked forwards as if she was not inebriated at all, until after the eighth step, were she stumbled slightly and was leaning against a wall again, _shit_, she thought to herself, not realising that there was someone right behind her.

"Hi there it seems you need some help," the leader of the Vipers said in what must have been the most charming voice that he could manage with his very gruff and somewhat thick voice.

Kitsune turned around and took in the group of men, even though she was extremely drunk, she could feel a bad vibe from these guys.

"Now I'm fwne Fellas," she said back, while edging away the best she could in her current state.

The leader saw this though and grabbed her arm "I don't think so" he said with a big toothy smile, that showed that he was missing several teeth and almost half the ones remaining were blackened.

Kitsune struggled the best she could, but she felt so weak in the mans grasp and with the combination of all of her senses being out of whack with her inebriated state, made her easy pray for the leader of the vipers.

The leader of the vipers dragged Kitsune into a narrow ally, her sandals fell of in the progress as she struggled against him and she dropped her purse as well in an attempt to bludgeon one of the men with it.

Three of the gang stood at the entrance shoulder to shoulder, so they blocked out the view to outsiders, the other four just stood around the leader and Kitsune and watched as the leader ripped of her white top and bra and then proceeded to enjoy himself with her plentiful cleavage.

Kitsune fought as best she could, but she couldn't fight back she felt weaker than she had ever had before, her hands were on the mans shoulders, pushing as hard as she could she felt disgusting as well and violated by what was happening, tears ran down her face, making her mascara form two very distinctive lines down her cheeks, her head then began to spin, she felt a fear that she had never know of before, a fear which she could not escape.

Kitsune looked up into the night sky, there was many stars out that night, it brought her a slight comfort as one seemed to twinkled and shine slightly brighter for a second, _daddy_, was Kitsune's only thought as she slightly smiled at the sky.

The three men guarding the entrance of the ally stood in silence, occasionally looking over their shoulders at the scene behind them.

They, like their leader and the other four in the ally, were all very big men; it was one of the main qualities of being part of the Hidden Vipers. Like the Black Panthers the Hidden Vipers was a small gang that had come about to try and take the territories of Hinata, with the authorities only truly ceasing recently the gangs had not been able to make any really big moves, but now dozens of small gangs, all around about the same size have sprung up recently and all wanting not just a piece of Hinata but all of it.

The middle guard pulled out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, then he fumbled about in his jacket for a light but could not find one, he looked to his two companions but both, just shrugged, he was about to ask one of the gang members behind him when a short thin man came up and offered a light, the guard did not take in that the man was wearing Samurai clothing, he just lent forwards for the man to light up his cigarette.

Keitaro thrust his open palm at the mans outstretched face in a motion that would guarantee a broken nose, the gang member fell backwards, blood pouring from his nose and unconscious from the force of the blow.

The man to Keitaro's left leapt forwards and threw a punch at Keitaro's face, Keitaro moved his head out of the way as if it was nothing and grabbed the mans arm, then twisted it in a quick motion flipping the man over on his back, where Keitaro delivered a kick to his face to make him lose consciousness as well.

By now all in the ally was alerted, the leader dropped Kitsune, who fell to the floor topless, the leader took in Keitaro and then looked at the two unconscious gang members.

"You don't know who you are messing with kid," the leader said to Keitaro, at that sentence each of the remaining gang members pulled out a knife, Keitaro Smiled.

"Funny" he said, his hair up till this pint had been covering his eyes, they were of cold steel once again "I was just about to say the same thing", he stood up straight and walked towards the gang.

The closest member charged him head on and swung his knife at Keitaro's face, Keitaro caught the mans arm and in a quick fluent motion twisted the mans arm behind his back, causing the man to drop the blade.

Another gang member came at Keitaro, brandishing his own knife. Keitaro moved the man he had in a grapple so he stood between him and the charging gang member, then pushed the man into the gang member so they both ran into each other.

Another member thought to exploit the opportunity and get Keitaro when he was occupied, while the two gang member were colliding, this member charged Keitaro's left side, Keitaro had seen this coming and twisted on his left leg and brought his right foot into contact with the side of the gang member face, causing him to fly into the wall unconscious and land on the floor exactly when the other two member did, one smacking his head against the ally floor, the other against the man's head, both equally unconscious because of it.

Keitaro kept his foot and leg in the same position with perfect balance, not shacking at all; he stared at the remaining gang members and slowly brought his leg down and back into position.

The leader of the Vipers felt fear, cold and hard fear, this man had just taken down five of his members in a matter of five minutes, three of which he taken down in mere seconds, all in a blinding speed an unnatural speed, but the leader couldn't show fear in front of his men, so he ran forwards while thrusting his knife at the mans abdomen, while at the same time brought his free fist at the right side of Keitaro's face.

Keitaro caught the leaders wrist that held the knife, but he didn't catch the fist, the fist struck against Keitaro's cheek, the strike caused Keitaro to turn his head left, blood and spittle flew from his mouth and a horrible thud could be heard through out the ally.

The leader smiled to himself, until something very wrong caught his attention, _He He He's still standing_, the leader thought, as he watched Keitaro turn his face back, a small trail of blood coming out of his mouth now.

Then with a quick motion Keitaro twisted the leaders wrist to an unnatural angle, a horrible snapping sound was then heard through out the ally.

"ARRRRR" the leader screamed, he fell to his knee, were Keitaro brought his knee up into the leader's chin, knocking him out and leaving him sprawled across the floor, his right hand pointing in the wrong direction.

With seeing their leader go down, the two remaining members threw down their knives and ran out of the ally in fear.

Keitaro went over to Kitsune and checked on her, though she was unconscious and had a smile on her face.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Hope you liked this chapter, I know a lot of talking, but at least this one was out sooner review please.


	6. Fox Troubles part 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything but a pair of old socks and the computer that I am composing this narrative to you on.

**Author's Notes:** I'm going to say sorry for the extremely long update gaps, but I completely understand if you don't want to forgive me, but then I completely understand if you don't even care.

I will say that a reason behind it was a serious case of writer's block and the fact that I have really been considering where I want to go with this fic. When I started out it was gong to be just like a Rurouni Kenshin anime and Love Hina crossover, but my mind has wandered since then and I feel I could do so much more with it, though with my life in a constant rush updates will be few. So don't expect any soon sorry.

* * *

Haruka paced back and fourth in the living room, only stopping to relight her cigarette or to start a new one. Motoko, Naru and Shinobu watched her in silence, none of them wanted to risk speaking with the look of rage that was plastered across Haruka's face.

It had been at least five hours since Keitaro had gone out to look for Kitsune and the current scene in the living room had been playing out since Keitaro had left.

It was around one o'clock in the morning, but no one felt like going to bed, even though they were not showing it so openly as Haruka, they were all worried, each of them had their own individual thoughts on the situation and their own fears.

Naru was worried about Kitsune and Kitsune alone, if Haruka hadn't had that look on her face, she would have expressed how she thought it an idiotic idea to send the perverted idiot who would just get himself killed or caught, leaving her and Motoko to have to go out there to sort it out, like they should have from the start.

Shinobu's thoughts, like most of the time was impartial, she was equally worried about Keitaro and Kitsune. She too thought that it would have been better for someone like, Motoko or Naru or even Haruka to go out there, not Keitaro who in her opinion would never hurt a fly and the thought of not seeing Kitsune made her feel sick, Kitsune had always been a good friend to her and in recent weeks had stuck up for her when concerning Naru trying to make her a reason to beat up Keitaro.

Though you would have thought that Motoko's thoughts would have been closer to Naru's on an occasion like this, but they were actually more close to Shinobu's, though she would never admit it.

Unlike Naru, Motoko had been impressed that Keitaro would go out there with no real argument and unarmed too, though she thought him an idiot for it. She had felt a little guilty at the fact that she had not given him a wooden sword or even his own sword, which would have at least not left him defenseless, but unlike Naru and Shinobu she didn't believe that it was stupid for him to go out, in fact she felt as if it was the right thing to do in the situation.

The idea of Keitaro out there brought her a sense of relief, as if him just being out there has already solved the problem, though she could not explain why she felt this way and only through long hours of torture would she ever tell anyone that she had.

Haruka's line of thought was completely different to all three of the girls, she was not concerned about never seeing Keitaro and Kitsune again, because she was almost certain that she would, there was a slight doubt of if Keitaro would get there on time, but that was very slight, but the reason for her pacing was down to the fact that she had sent Keitaro, who in her opinion was a psychopathic murder, out into a city overflowing with thugs and idiots all begging for a fight, so you can imagine the pictures in her mind, blood soaked streets, corpses hanging from lamp posts and all manner of gruesome images that would make Quentin Tarantino throw up.

"Why the hell did I send him out there?" she had asked herself at one point, while relighting a cigarette, she had thought of the ramifications, like angry gang members coming for revenge or believing that they were a gang as well so that would bring all of them down on top of them and she didn't know how good Keitaro really was and if he could take on every gang in Hinata.

Just as she was finishing this line of thought Su came running in the room, when Keitaro had first left she had volunteered to keep watch for his and Kitsune's return, so on her entering the room all of the girls jumped up and waited for her to speak.

"Keitaro and Kitsune are back" she said, her tone was serious as she to was worried about them, she ran through the front door and was followed by the four other females, they all stopped just out side of the front door and took in the scene in front of them.

Keitaro stepped of the top step of the stairs that lead up to the Hinata house, in his arms was Kitsune, he had his right arm hooked around her shoulders so to support her upper body and his left under the knees.

Her feet were bare and she was wrapped in what looked like a leather jacket, her head was resting against Keitaro's shoulder and her limbs hung slightly limp, her eye's were also closed and there was a slight smile across her face.

On seeing this all the girls ran forwards, they surrounded Keitaro, they asked questions, they offered help, and they even asked if he was ok, but he didn't answer he just continued walking and after a while the girls got that he would answer them later so they followed behind him.

He made his way up to the Kitsune's room in silence with the girls behind him, not seeming to strain or get tired even when he took the relatively steep steps up to the second floor, when he got there he slid the door open with his foot and made his way over to Kitsune's bed and laid her down, he removed the jacket revealing that she was topless.

Where Naru almost struck him and called him a pervert, if it weren't for Haruka's and Motoko's stern looks, which quelled the girls rage in an instant.

He then pulled the blanket over her first making sure that she was in the recovery position, the smile still on her face, he then turned around to the girls, the blank look that he had held up until this point vanished and was replaced with a much sterner one, he gestured to the door and followed the girls as they left, shutting the door behind him.

Once outside the girls started to ask him questions again.

"What happened to her?"

"Is she going to be ok?"

"What took you so long?"

"Where was she?"

Keitaro raised his hands to quite everyone down and spoke.

"Lets go down to the Kitchen and speak there over some tea," he said as he walked to the stairs to go down to the kitchen, the girls followed him again, but not so silently, all mumbling about wanting to know the answers more than a cup of tea.

Twenty minutes later everyone was sitting down and had their cups of tea.

"Ok, one at a time please" Keitaro said, the ever-consistent smile back on his face.

"Is Kitsune sempai ok?" Shinobu asked, as she was closest to Keitaro.

"Yes she's fine, she just drank way to much" he replied, all of the girls relaxed at hearing this.

"Why is she naked?" Motoko asked, who was next along from Shinobu.

"This guy attacked her" Keitaro said, Haruka stared at him hard from across the table; she had just noticed that there was a mark on Keitaro's right cheek.

"What did you do?" She asked, Keitaro turned and looked her in the eyes.

"I scared him off" he said, Haruka looked at him firmly, she knew he was lying, but probably only because Keitaro wanted her to know, because otherwise his façade was impenetrable.

"Did you fight him?" asked Su.

"Well it wasn't really a fight, I was only lucky that I got him where it hurts" Keitaro said with a smile, his tone as always carefree, Motoko rolled her eyes and Naru shook her head.

"As you can see I didn't do so well," he said while gesturing to his cheek and laughing as if it was a game.

"Idiot" Naru said while shacking her head, though for once Motoko didn't join her.

"Where did this happen?" She asked.

"Outside a club in central Hinata" Keitaro answered, Motoko thought on this.

"So you carried her all the way from there to here" she asked, all of the girls quieted down and considered this, it was at least a two mile walk and with the last part involving the stairs up to Hinata which is probably the equivalent to a two mile walk in itself.

"Yeah, I did" Keitaro.

**1 hour later in Keitaro's room**

Keitaro locked the door behind him and let out a breath, the last hour had been one of the toughest in his life. After the slip about him carrying Kitsune all that way and not showing any sort of fatigue, all of the girls were in awe of him, even Naru, though she like Motoko was suspicious about how he did it.

When they had all finally calmed down, they decided to go to bed and Shinobu agreed to stay in Kitsune's room so someone can be there when she wakes up and clean her up a bit.

Keitaro made his way over to a mirror on the wall and examined his cheek, which was now turning from a red mark into a bruise that covered half his cheek. He started at it long and hard.

_How did he do that_, Keitaro thought to himself as he touched the bruise, a sharp pain came at the slight pressure he applied, it was nothing to the actual blow, though at the time he showed no real pain, it had hurt a lot.

_Why didn't I see the punch, normally I would have responded, but I didn't even expect it_, he thought to himself as he stepped away from the mirror, his whole body ached and his mind throbbed from exhaustion, the lack of sleep was finally getting to him.

_Maybe that's why he got me, I'm so tired that my reflexes are suffering from it, yes all I need is some sleep_, Keitaro thought to himself as he flopped down on his futon, the thought and need of his sword going out of his head, as pure exhaustion took over, basically causing him to pass out.

He slept for the first time in years without his sword and slept soundly for the first time in an even longer time.

**Saturday morning the next day**

Kitsune opened her eyes slowly; a small light from a gap in her curtains hit her in the eyes, which caused what could only be described as an earthquake of the brain. Her eyes watered from the pain and she lifted a hand to try and massage her temple, but stopped when someone spoke.

"Oh, finally your awake" came Shinobu's voice, though Kitsune only knew by her voice because all she could see was a blur.

"Where am I?" Kitsune asked, though each word she said caused another tremor to go off in her head.

"Your room" Shinobu answered simply, as she placed a damp rag on Kitsune's head.

The rag felt nice and quelled the pain, she smiled slightly at the relapse of the pain and then began to think of last night, a lot of it seemed very blurry to her she could remember leaving the club and then these guys.

It all suddenly came back to her, the men who dragged her into the ally, the way that the one guy ripped her clothing off and the things he did and how he had been laughing and his men had been laughing, tears began to come to her eyes as the images flooded her mind.

"I was attacked" Kitsune said, through slight sobs, Shinobu looked concerned.

"Its ok now, your safe now" Shinobu said trying to console her friend.

Kitsune seemed to try and get control off herself, as she was slightly intrigued on how she had got from the ally to her bedroom.

"Did you guys come and find me?" she asked, Shinobu was no longer a blur but the pain was returning.

"No not exactly we didn't all go" Shinobu said turning the rag over so the side with more moisture could help Kitsune.

Though Kitsune wasn't too bothered about her head, as she was still intrigued at what happened "what like Motoko, Naru and Haruka, came out to get me?" she said with a slight smile at the thought of what them three would have done to those group of thugs.

"No, Keitaro went out alone and found you" Shinobu said as she stood up "You don't have to get out of bed today, I am going to bring breakfast to you ok?" she said before even giving Kitsune time to respond.

Though she probably wouldn't have, as her mouth was still open from shock on hearing that Keitaro had been _her savior, there had to have been at least six really big guys_, she thought to herself, trying very hard to remember what happened, but all she could remember was looking at the sky and then it all went dark.

The door opened and Naru entered she smiled at Kitsune and went up to her and hugged her.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Rough" Kitsune replied with a slight laugh, though she regretted it after her head shook with pain again.

"That's good" Naru answered as she took the seat next to Kitsune's bed and removed the rag on her forehead, then proceeded to dip it in a bucket next to Kitsune's bed.

"Is it true about Keitaro?" Kitsune asked, Naru wringed the rag, to get rid of excess water and placed it back on Kitsune's head before answering.

"Yeah it is," she said, though it sounded like it hurt to say so "did Shinobu also tell you that he carried you all the way back here as well?" Naru said with the same tone.

"Wow so he gets into a big fight and then carr…" her sentence was cut off, as a very large and painful throb went of in her skull.

"I wouldn't really call it a big fight, sounds like Keitaro got lucky to me" Naru said with a slight laugh at the end of her sentence.

"What do you mean?' Kitsune asked.

"Look all I'm saying is that if it was me, that guy would have gotten away with much more than a kick in the nuts, if he got away at all that is" Naru explained as she turned the rag over on Kitsune's head.

"Yeah, but there was like six of them," Kitsune said, Naru first looked confused then smiled.

"Yeah right, like Keitaro could take on more than one guy, your just confused about last night there was only one guy" she said in a very condescending tone.

Kitsune would usually rise up to the tone and have a go at Naru for speaking to her in such a tone, but with the way her head felt she decided to give in "Your probably right" Kitsune replied with a smile.

"Of course I am" replied Naru as she stood up and made her way over to Kitsune's door "Shinobu will be up soon with something to eat, so we will speak later k" Naru said in a very bubbly tone.

When she was gone Kitsune rolled her eyes at both Naru's bubbly tone and her friends ever annoying arrogance and ignorance of the world around her, though when she did roll her eye, her head seemed to roll with them.

**Keitaro's room**

Around about the same time that Naru left Kitsune's room, Keitaro rolled out of his bed, he looked around his room as if he had never been there before.

"Oh yeah now I remember" he said to himself as he stood up and straightened himself out, the fatigue he had felt all week was gone and his mind was focused.

He went over to his mirror to and looked at his bruise, it had fully ripened through the night, the centre being a light purple which went into a darker purple then fully black, luckily it hadn't spread and sill kept to same area it had been last night.

Keitaro lifted a finger to it and applied a bit of pressure "OW" he said out loud as a sharp pain went through out his face.

"Are you alright in there sempai" Shinobu asked after she lightly tapped on the door.

"Yeah Shinobu I'm fine" he replied.

"Kitsune's awake if you want to know, I was just bringing her something to eat," She said through the door.

Keitaro smiled, _she is the youngest yet she takes care of everyone_, he thought to himself "Thank you Shinobu I will check on her after she has eaten" he replied.

"Ok, I will tell her then" she replied through the door, Keitaro listened as she left and heard her open the door to Kitsune's room through the wall.

**Kitsune's room**

"Hey how you feeling now?" Shinobu asked with a smile as she walked in with a tray in her hands.

"Well, seeing as it has only been only twenty minutes, not that much improvement really" Kitsune answered with a smile of her own and pushed herself up so she was in a sitting position.

"Sarcasm is always a good sign" Shinobu said, then she blushed slightly "erm Kitsune you might want to cover up" she said while looking away from Kitsune.

Kitsune looked confused then looked down, her chest was exposed to the world in its full glory, out of instinct Kitsune pulled her covers up to her chest and blushed.

"Err well this is awkward, where's my top?" She asked.

"You didn't have one when sempai brought you home last night" Shinobu replied, while placing the tray on a side table and opened a draw and picked out a pink short sleeved top, which she threw to Kitsune.

Kitsune caught it and began to put it on when something occurred to her "Keitaro saw me naked?" she asked, while continuing to put her shirt on seeming to protest against the movement.

"Yeah, though he didn't seem so bothered" Shinobu said placing the tray on Kitsune's lap.

"Oh" she replied while looking down at the tray, Shinobu had once again out done herself, a nice large bowl of steamed rice and Miso soup, with Kitsune's personal favorite side dishes of grilled fish and dried seaweed, with a glass of orange juice and a fresh cup off coffee, she smiled at the young girl.

"Guess Naru was wrong about him after all then" she said with a big smile as she picked up her chopsticks "This looks great Shinobu, how did you get this done in twenty minutes?" she asked, while placing a bit of fish in her mouth.

"It was left over from everyone else's breakfast, it is eleven you know?" Shinobu said.

Kitsune looked over at her clock and saw that it showed eleven on its dials "So everyone is up and fed except me?" she asked.

"No, sempai has just got up as well" Shinobu said "which reminds me, sempai said he will come and see how your feeling after your done."

Kitsune nodded showing that she understood as she chewed on a very tasty piece of dried seaweed.

**Kitchen**

Keitaro finished pouring himself a cup of tea and dug into what was left over from breakfast, he was alone and except for Shinobu had not met anyone on his way down, _probably gone out to get what I need to build that chicken coop_, he thought to himself, and then Motoko walked in.

She froze in mid step and looked Keitaro straight in the eye, which he did in return, there was an awkward silence that lasted for a few seconds, until Keitaro opened his mouth as if to start speaking.

"No, don't say anything, you may annoy me and what I have got to say needs to be said" Motoko said, cutting across Keitaro, who closed his mouth obediently.

"Urashima. I know that for the last week and half I have been really harsh on you" Motoko said, gesturing between the two of them, _You mean you beat the living crap out of me on a daily basis for no real reason_, Keitaro thought to himself, though he just smiled and nodded to Motoko.

"And that I may have jumped to some wild conclusions" She said now looking down, Keitaro didn't even dignify that sentence with a thought response or even a nod.

"But after last night, well I have decided that I will restrain myself from now on" she said, this sentence hung in the air for a second, _That was really hard for you_, Keitaro thought to himself, though once again he didn't vocalize it, but he smiled and nodded to her.

"And I have something for you, wait here" she said and turned around and left the room, Keitaro just starred at the door through which she had just left.

It wasn't long before she came back through the same door holding a wooden sword, but unlike the first this one looked brand new, with no chips or dents in the wood at all.

"Its one of my better ones, you will have a hard time breaking this one and you can train again" she said, Keitaro smiled and stood up to take the sword, looked it over and was very pleased with it, his hand trembled slightly as he reached to grasp the hand grip of the sword.

He stepped back from Motoko and tested the weight of the wooden sword in his hand, twirled it in his hand and took a few practice swings there, though nothing too extreme as he was in the kitchen and in front of Motoko.

"Thank you, I am really grateful for this," He said to her with a big smile.

"Its ok" she replied with a smile and a blush, though the smile disappeared after a second "I mean, your welcome and I didn't need it anyway" she said in a rush as she turned on her heel, blush still in full force and walked out of the room.

Keitaro just looked dumbstruck "Was it something I said?" was his only response.

"Why what did you say sempai?" Shinobu asked from behind Keitaro, which caused him to jump and brandish his new wooden sword in a defensive stance, Shinobu looked scared and slightly shocked at Keitaro's actions.

"Sorry sempai did I scare?" she asked, Keitaro lowered his sword and stood up straight, his ever consistent smile back on his face.

"Yeah, you did" He replied with a laugh, which Shinobu joined in with after a second, though Keitaro's thoughts were very different, _why the hell didn't I sense her, first that guy last night and now this, probably sleep isn't the issue_, he thought to himself, while laughing along with Shinobu.

Shinobu finished laughing and went over to the sink with a tray with some dirty dishes on it and began humming to herself.

Keitaro began to leave the room, still some how laughing at what had happened, though not so loudly, just as he was about to leave the room Shinobu spoke up.

"Kitsune's finished her breakfast, so if you want to check up on her, now's the time to do it" Shinobu said without looking away from her dishes.

"Ok, I will go and talk to her now then" he replied and made his way up to Kitsune's room.

**Kitsune's room**

A light knock came from the door, Kitsune, who was still sitting up, her head was feeling a little better and with some food inside her she has started to feel a little better overall.

"Who is it?" she called to the door.

"Its Keitaro" came the reply from the door.

"Ok come in" she called back.

Keitaro entered the room and smiled at Kitsune on the bed "You're looking better" he said, as he took a seat next to her bed "amazing what a good breakfast can do."

"Especially one prepared by Shinobu" she replied with a smile, Keitaro nodded and smiled back. They both sat there for a moment in silence, both had something to say to the other, but neither wanted to speak first, luckily fate intervened.

While they sat in their awkward silence in Kitsune's room, Su was playing in her room, if that is what you want to call it.

In the middle of her room stood a machine at about seven feet in height, it resembled a body in the sense that it had arms and legs and a torso, though in the torso was a seat, with several control panels.

"Yes, my exo suit is almost complete" Su said as she hooked up some cables to the torso of the exo suit and a box that had strange green glow coming from it, she pulled down a pair of goggles over her eyes, that had up until that point been perched on top of her head.

"Ok now for some power, to see if this bad boy will work" she said to herself with a devious grin, as she flipped a switch on the box, the green light got more intense and the exo suit began to shake, bits and pieces began to fall of the suit from the vibration.

"Oh no this isn't good" Su said to herself as she ran over to the box and switched it off, the green light went dim, but the suit still vibrated, all the control panels now flashing and making noises.

"ITS GONNA BLOW!" she shouted as she dived behind a collection of sandbags she had laid out for just an event, she put her hands over her head and laid down behind the sandbags, she heard the various noises from the exo suit and then it was all drowned out by a giant explosion.

**BOOM**

Keitaro and Kitsune jumped in shock from the sound, Kitsune let out a slight scream, but it went practically unnoticed, both then looked up and then at each other.

"What the hell was that?" Kitsune asked, though smiling as she new what, or most likely who it was.

"I don't know" Keitaro replied, though he like Kitsune had a good idea at what or who it was.

"But I can tell you one thing" he said with a slight smile.

"What?" Kitsune asked.

"It most likely means more work for me" he said with a laugh, which Kitsune joined in with, after a minute they could hear people upstairs shouting, namely one Naru, who sounded like she was berating Su for blowing up the third floor.

This just caused the two people in Kitsune's room to laugh even more, after another minute they both calmed down and went into that same awkward silence again, though this time both had the courage to speak.

"Kitsune…" Keitaro said.

"Keitaro…" Kitsune said, at the same time, both stopped then waited for the other to speak, until Keitaro spoke up.

"You go first" He said, Kitsune, whose headache felt like it was returning didn't argue the point and continued.

"Err about last night," she said.

"Its ok you don't have to say thank you" Keitaro said.

"No its not that" she answered quickly "but I am grateful" she added on, on realizing her rudeness.

"Then what is it?" he asked.

"I was talking to Naru earlier…" she said, Keitaro nodded his understanding, so Kitsune continued.

"…And she said that you told them that you only caught one guy attacking me last night…" she said, on the mention of the lie he told, Keitaro had looked away from Kitsune, causing his bruised cheek to be facing her.

"…But I remember there being at least six of them" after saying this she looked away as well, as she couldn't look at his cheek, she felt like it was her fault for him to be hurt like that.

"It was eight actually," Keitaro said, though still not looking at her, Kitsune turned back to look at him, her mouth slightly open.

"Six was the amount that I took out and the other two ran away," he said in a casual tone as if it wasn't a big deal to him.

"How did you do that?" Kitsune asked, her head was spinning, not from the pain that was returning, but from all of the new information she was receiving.

"It wasn't anything special, as you can see I didn't do so well" he said gesturing to his bruise, but still not looking Kitsune in the face.

"You took on eight really big guys and came out with only a bruise and you think it wasn't anything special?" she asked, her voice going up slightly.

"Yeah it wasn't" he said trying to play it down, he turned back and looked Kitsune in the eye and smiled "anyway a lot of it was down to luck."

"No I saw them guys, it would take more than luck to take even two of them down, let alone six" she said, she sounded annoyed because Keitaro seemed to be trying to play it of as nothing, when she new that all of the girls in the house, including Motoko, Naru and Haruka, could not have done what he had last night.

"Well…" Keitaro was stumped, he had fallen into a trap and his usual tricks of playing it off or bringing it down were not working, Kitsune stared at him with her arms crossed, with her left index finger drumming along on her right arm to show her impatience of waiting for an answer, her eyes were open fully as well, but they flashed an annoyance of the situation.

Keitaro decided to give in "Ok what do you want to know?" he asked, with a weak smile.

"How good are you really in martial arts?" she asked, now closing her right eye and half closing the left one, as if it was ready to scan Keitaro if she thought he was lying.

"By my schools standards I am still only thought off as an apprentice…" he said pausing for a second "…But by most other school standards I would be counted as a master of my art", Kitsune's mouth opened slightly again.

"Why didn't you tell us and you take all the crap Naru and Motoko dish out to you and you just accept it, why" she asked her arms became uncrossed and she leaned forwards slightly.

"Because it is something that I am not that proud of anymore," he replied bowing his head in shame, his voice was sincere and held deep emotions.

"Oh, so you don't like to bring up the fact is that it?" Kitsune asked, Keitaro nodded, though he still didn't look up "and you accept the beatings so you don't make anyone suspicious."

"Yeah" he said, his face serious and his eyes distant, Kitsune was silent for a second, but continued.

"What happened to make you like this, were you kicked out of your dojo for doing something and now you're ronin?" she asked.

"Something like that" he replied, though his tone expressed that he didn't want to talk about the issue, which Kitsune got so she dropped it, they sat there in silence once again, though this time it wasn't so awkward, it was a silence that was needed after something personal was shared.

"You had something you wanted to ask me?" Kitsune said after a few minutes of silence, Keitaro looked up at her then nodded, his face still serious.

"I wanted to know the reason for why you drink yourself into a stupor every chance you get" He asked, now it was Kitsune's time to look away, her hands going together so she could twiddle her thumbs.

"Err, I thought it was obvious I am just a party girl, born to be wild and all that" she said, her tone was rushed and she laughed nervously between breaths.

"I did think that until I heard you speak in your sleep last night when I was carrying you home," Keitaro said, still keeping the stoic look.

"Why what did I say" Kitsune asked, visibly sweated and making a point of examining her nails, Keitaro had turned it completely around on her and like him, she couldn't see anyway to escape.

Keitaro's face softened slightly "You were crying and you kept saying 'daddy' over and over again", at the mention of the word daddy, Kitsune's eyes welled up and tears began to run down her face, she shook her head a few times, but this didn't seem to help, then she put her head into her hands and went into full sobs.

Keitaro stood and walked over to her and put his arms around her, she gladly cried onto his shoulder, putting her arms around him and holding him tight, they stayed like that for a few minutes until she calmed down a bit, her head hurt once again and she felt like the room was spinning slightly.

After a minute, Keitaro straightened and handed her a box of tissues that was on her bedside cabinet, she blew her nose and wiped her eyes and attempted to get control of herself.

"I'm sorry," she said shuddering slightly as she felt her control coming back to her, Keitaro just shook his head to show that she needn't say sorry, she smiled back at the gesture, then leaned over to the cabinet with the tissues on it and pulled the first draw out, she then reached in and pulled out a small redwood cigar box.

Keitaro watched as she opened the box gently and meticulously, as if it was some kind of ritual that she carried out every night, she then picked up a small folded piece of paper and handed it to Keitaro.

He unfolded the paper to see that it was an old photo, creases lines that would only come from being folded repeatedly or for a long time went across the picture, though the people on the picture concerned Keitaro more, on the picture stood two people, the taller and much bigger figure a man, who had wide shoulders and a very muscular appearance, though his face was kind, especially with the joyous smile that was on his face, he had short black hair and small eyes that were a shade of blue that were placed on either side of

a fairly pointy nose.

Standing next to him was Kitsune, her hair was the same length it was now though it must have been a much younger Kitsune, her body wasn't as developed as it was now and even though the man looked like he must have been tall anyway she looked rather short next to him, her head only just reaching his shoulders, she had her arms wrapped around the mans chest and she had the biggest smile Keitaro had ever seen across her face, with both of her eyes open looking up at the older man, with what Keitaro could only explain as great affection in them.

"Your father?" Keitaro asked gesturing to the picture, Kitsune nodded and took the picture back and looked at it herself, before folding it gently and placing it back in cigar box.

"We were very close" she said, her voice distant and full of countless emotions, which Keitaro picked up on as well as the way she was specking about her father in the past tense.

"So that's why you drink" Keitaro said, Kitsune nodded slight, a single tear ran down her cheek.

"It helps me not remember, because when I do I…" she stopped herself in mid sentence with a sob, but then got control of herself and continued "…I get like this and I can't stop" her last few words were rushed as she began crying again, putting her face in her hands and sobbing full force.

Keitaro handed her some tissues and waited for her to calm down and when she did he spoke.

"Would your father want you to be like this?" he asked, Kitsune thought on this and shook her head, tears falling from her eyes, which were all red and puffed up now.

"No he wouldn't, he would want you to live your life to the fullest, not drink yourself into an early grave" Keitaro sounded sincere and his word made sense to Kitsune, anyone would have told her the same thing but she had never let anyone get this close to her before and for the simple fact that she had shared she felt slightly better

"Thank you Keitaro, your right, ever since he died a year ago I…" she couldn't finish her sentence as Keitaro cut across her.

"Your Father died a year ago?" he asked his tone suddenly serious; though Kitsune didn't notice through all of the emotions she was feeling.

"Yeah, he was one of the bodyguards that was killed with that government official a year ago" she said, surprised at how she didn't flinch this time and how she could say it a bit more easily, which caused her to not notice Keitaro's face, Which showed a mixture of shock and concern.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** next chapter will be up much faster than this one I promise.


	7. An Eventful Dinner

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything but a pair of old socks and the computer that I am composing this narrative to you on.

* * *

**BANG BANG**

The sound of a hammer could be heard in the midday light of a Sunday afternoon that lit the Hinata Inn, which for a rare moment seemed fairly peaceful for once, except for the sounds of a hammer, the place was perfectly silent, but a natural silence, as if everything was asleep.

Keitaro raised the hammer again and bought it down.

**BANG**

The sound seemed amplified with the silence, but Keitaro was to wrapped up in his work to take notice, he had been working on the chicken coop all weekend and it was only a few nails away from being done.

The coop was about three feet in height and was raised above the ground by about six inches with eight individual struts holding it up, it was about six feet in length, with a ramp leading to the entrance, that had a door that could be slid up and down. It had a pitched roof, with one side of the roof attached to a pair of hinges so it could be lifted up to look inside.

Inside the coop there was twenty nesting boxes, ten on either side of it, with five along the bottom, and five at the top, both sides perfectly symmetrical to each other.

Keitaro lent down and picked up some of the last pieces of shingle for the roof, he placed it on a gap in the roof, positioned a nail and lifted the hammer.

**BANG**

Keitaro's face was completely blank as he worked methodically, his hands seeming to know were they have to be without him even having to look, he had worked like this all day, the reason being that through the whole time his mind was elsewhere, so his body continued with no real need of direction.

**BANG**

Not much else had happened with Kitsune, not that he could remember, all that he was certain about was that they talked till it was dark, Shinobu had brought up there meals as she had talked about her life.

**BANG**

She had told him about better times and about her father, about how he had taken care of her all his life because her mother had died when she was young, about how they had travelled the country, up until her father had got a really good job.

**BANG**

So he had brought her here, he and granny Hina were friends, so it hadn't been a big deal to give her a room. She told him that even though his job was about a 100 miles away, he would drive down on every weekend he could get away to see her, that even though he had an important job he still took the time to come to the events of her life, like birthdays, Christmases and her graduation.

**BANG**

Then she had told him about when she had got the call a year ago, about how he was suppose to call that night anyway and she had been mad at him for calling so late, but when she picked up the receiver, it was another man's voice, talking about how sorry he was and trying to tell her it was going to be alright, but she couldn't hear as she had dropped the receiver and had gone to the closest bar and drank herself into such a stupor, that she couldn't even remember why she had and how she had kept it up for a year now.

**BANG**

Keitaro on the other hand hardly took anything in, his mind had folded inwards and his focus consumed by doubt, he had felt like he could throw up right there and then all weekend, but above all else he felt guilt.

**BANG**

Guilt at what his actions had brought around, he had lived with these feeling for a long while now, but never had he been so aware of what his actions had caused for other people.

**BANG**

"Well, I see that you're almost done" came a voice from behind Keitaro. Keitaro turned around in surprise and in doing so wasn't concentrating at what he was doing.

**BANG**

"OW" Keitaro shouted as he held one hand in the other, the hammer he had been holding a second ago fell to the ground and hit Keitaro's exposed big toe "OW" he shouted again, as he began hopping on one foot and clutching his now sore toe between his hands.

Haruka laughed out loud at the spectacle "Well that will teach you to wear some proper shoes" she said with a big smile.

Keitaro stopped hopping and looked up at Haruka, the smile once again on his face "Yeah your probably right" he said reaching a hand up to the back of his head and began to laugh as well, though it sounded forced and slightly hysterical.

Haruka had stopped laughing at this, she scowled slightly at him and crossed her arms and shook her head "Keitaro!" she said sternly.

Keitaro stopped laughing and looked up, his face held confusion "Yes aunt Haru…" he was cut off as he was struck to the ground.

"Its Haruka" She said above him, malice laced in her voice "and you need to find a better way to handle your emotions," she said as she crossed her arms again.

Keitaro raised himself up onto one knee and looked up at her, his face held no emotion except for his eyes, which were grief-stricken, on seeing them, Haruka dropped her scowl and knelt down to his level.

"You may have them fooled at the moment, but someday they will work out that your hiding something" Keitaro looked up and smiled slightly, though it was completely different from his normal smile, it held the same sorrow that his eyes held now, but it seemed a lot more natural than his normal smile.

"But that isn't what you are worried about, is it?" he asked, Haruka smiled back slightly "No, I am worried that with you bottling up all this emotion, you will eventually lose control of it and…" she stopped and looked away from him.

"And lose control of myself" he finished for her, his head bowed slightly so his fringe was covering his eyes, he stood up straight, his arms set on either side of him.

"Exactly" Haruka said as she looked up at him, then she to stood up "and that is something we don't want, right" she waited for his reply, he raised his head to reveal those sorrowful eyes and smile again.

"More than you know" he replied finally, then he turned around and began to work on the coop again, picking up the hammer from were it had fell.

Haruka watched in silence as he finished hammering the last nail into place, she looked at the coop and took in the young mans work and was impressed, which was rare in itself.

She would never have guessed that he would have been able to create something like this. She had been watching him build it all day, she had noted the care and meticulous nature that he had towards the job. It made her hope for him, that maybe if he can show such care in making a chicken coop, maybe he could care for someone else, that there maybe be more than just a heartless killer insider him.

"Sempai, dinner will be ready soon" Shinobu's voice came from inside the building, which knocked Haruka out of her line of thought, she noticed that Keitaro was packing up his tools and seemed to be done.

"K, we will be right in" she shouted back, Keitaro looked up at her, his face still slightly gloomy, but it seemed more genuine than his normal expressions. He nodded to her and then walked past her.

"Come on in it will start raining soon," he said as he walked away, Haruka looked up to the clear sky.

"Rain?" she asked but realised Keitaro was already entering the house.

**Kitchen**

Shinobu worked tirelessly at the stove, as she prepared dinner. Kitsune sat at the table with a cup of tea in her hands, she watched as the young girl prepared dinner with the expertise of a five star restaurant chef.

_I wish I could cook half as good as her_, She thought to herself, she looked down at her tea and watched the slight steam that came from the hot liquid. She thought back to the other night to when she had talked with Keitaro and she smiled at the memory, she had felt a sense of relief pass over her when she had told him and had a calm come over her that she hadn't felt since her father had been alive.

She felt safe around him, just like her father, she felt like no one was going to hurt her or harm her when he was in the room, she thought back to what he did at the end of the night.

**Kitsune's room Saturday night**

"Here take this" Keitaro said, as he handed Kitsune a folded up blanket, he had just left the room to retrieve it, saying he had something for her.

Kitsune put it on her lap and unfolded it until it revealed a handgun; Kitsune had an intake of breath.

"Keitaro were did you get this?" she asked looking up to him with worry, Keitaro put his hand on the back of his head and smiled.

"From them guys who attacked you" he said, she looked back down, she hated guns and the noise, as if Keitaro could read her thoughts.

"You don't have to use it, you can just threaten people with it if they try to take advantage or attack you" he said in a matter of fact tone, Kitsune nodded her head and looked up.

"But why?" she asked, Keitaro smiled again, it seemed warm and heart felt.

"Cos I want to make sure you are all safe" he said, Kitsune smiled.

**Kitchen present day**

Kitsune smiled warmly at the memory, she then suddenly had an intake of breath, _Do I like Keitaro,_ she thought to herself, she felt her cheeks heat up slightly, She shook her head and drank the rest of her tea, the warm liquid ran down the length of her throat and it was able to rid her of the thoughts for a second.

"Hey guys, coops done if you want to see it" Keitaro said as he walked in, Haruka close behind.

_No good,_ Kitsune thought to herself, as a slight hue came onto her cheeks again "Yeah I think I will go have a look now" she said as she jumped up and hurried outside.

"Dinner will be ready in a sec so don't be long" Shinobu said from her place at the stove, which was the only reaction to Kitsune's departure, as the rest of the room just carried on as normal.

Haruka took her regular seat at one end of the table table, as Keitaro went over to the sink and washed his hands after working outside. Naru, who had been sitting at the table with her head in a book, seemed oblivious to everything going on in the room.

After a second Motoko walked in and took her respective seat, with her arms folded across her chest, then Keitaro came and took his seat at the other end of the table, opposite Haruka.

"Dinners ready" Shinobu shouted. What sounded like a freight train came from the region of were the stairs was located in the house, when that ended a blond streak came flying into the room.

Su was in her seat before anyone in the room even blinked, which would seem strange, as if anyone else was in that room they would have most likely double took the moment and the bottom of their jaw would be in the region of their ankles, but as it was a common occurrence in the Hinata house, the phenomenon went unnoticed.

Kitsune entered a few seconds later, she was soaked and her hair was sticking to her forehead "Jesus, that rain came out of no where" she said as she shook her head slightly for emphasis and took her seat.

Haruka looked out the window and saw the rain beating against it, her mouth opened slightly and then she looked over at Keitaro at the other end of the table, who had began eating and didn't seem to notice Haruka's expression.

"Is something wrong Haruka Sempai?" Shinobu asked, Haruka looked over at the young girl, her face still held the shock and confusion, then she shook her head "Yeah, its just the food is delicious today" she said.

"Yeah I have to agree, you have outdone yourself today Shinobu" Keitaro said with a big smile, Shinobu blushed slightly and looked down.

"Thank you sempai" she answered back in a quiet voice.

"Pervert" came Naru's voice from her place at the table.

**Hinata Tea Shop**

A cloaked figure walked up to the teashop, the black hood concealed the figure's face, but it was easy to see that the figure was taking in the area in front of itself.

The rain seemed to be getting heavier by the second, the sound of the rain hitting the roof of the teahouse filled the area around it and cloaked figure seemed unaffected by it.

Large puddles were forming around the figure and everything seemed to be soaked, as the wind would pick up and cause the rain to go sideways, meaning there was very little shelter from it.

Darkness was descending upon Hinata and mixed with the rain made it look like it was already night.

The figure then turned and looked towards the stairs up to Hinata house, water flowing down the steps, causing a large puddle to form at the bottom of the steps.

The figure walked over to the steps and looked up towards the top, the figure then began to walk up the steps, the end of the cloak dragging up each step.

**Kitchen**

The silence that had consumed the group before had lifted, Su was talking at a thousand words a second about her latest invention, though no one was particularly paying attention, they heard bits and pieces like 'Exo Suit', 'Weapon Systems' and 'Nuclear Reactor', but they either didn't understand it or thought it was just Su getting over exited.

Naru and Kitsune were talking about various subjects, like clothes shopping, shoe shopping and various other forms of shopping, which seemed pointless as everywhere was closed.

Motoko seemed to be talking quite animatedly about new training system she had lined up for next few months, too both Haruka and Shinobu, Haruka offered helpful criticisms, talking about how she could spread her time, while Shinobu seemed to just listen in awe.

Keitaro just sat there quietly and ate and listened, he enjoyed this, just listening to everyone talk, the life force that seemed to flow through out the room. He loved how that even with everything happening, even with what happened the other night with Kitsune, they were still able to sit down and talk as if nothing was wrong.

"Doesn't a lot of these training ideas need a second person to carry them out with a partner?" Haruka asked, Motoko blushed slightly then looked towards Keitaro.

"I was hopping you would join me" she said, though her voice didn't shake or betray the slight blush. Everyone at the table went quite as they listened for Keitaro's answer, all eyes on him.

Keitaro had heard her right off, but decided to play the fool "Sorry what did you say?" he said, every female eye at the table, Excluding Su, who was still talking, rolled their eyes at the comment.

"I was asking…" Motoko began again; the slight blush had evaporated "…if you wanted to join me in my new training schedule?" once again all eyes and ears were on Keitaro.

Keitaro chewed his food methodically for a second as he thought about it, then he swallowed "I'll think about it" he said then put a bit more food in his mouth.

"What do you mean, you will think about it?" Motoko asked her brow furrowed slightly, Keitaro swallowed again. He saw Kitsune out of the corner of his eye, as well as Haruka, who both had similar looks.

"Well I don't know if I will have time with my managerial duties, for one. Another reason being that I know your training regimes are already intense and I don't want to get hurt or break my new training sword so soon" he said before popping some more food in his mouth, Motoko thought on this for a second and was about to say something when Keitaro swallowed again.

"That being said, I'll still think about it," he said with one of his smiles, Motoko thought this over again and then replied.

"Okay then, but get back to me soon" she then turned back to her own meal. Keitaro heard Haruka let a breath; she didn't know she was holding, go though no one else seemed to notice.

Kitsune seemed to hide whatever she was thinking, seeing as she went straight back to talking to Naru again and after a second, Keitaro looked up to Motoko again.

"Talking about training, isn't it about time that I get my sword ba…"

**Bang Bang**

The sound of someone knocking on the door went through out the house, everyone at the table froze for a second and Keitaro stopped his line of enquiry, everyone looked in the direction of the front door.

**Bang Bang Bang**

"Who could that be?" Haruka asked as she got up and walked out of the kitchen and in the direction of the front door. Naru, Shinobu, Keitaro and Su went back to eating, while Kitsune and Motoko was still looking in the direction of the door.

Faint voices could be heard from the direction of the front door, Kitsune strained to hear and so did Motoko.

Keitaro sat silently and ate, though all his senses were stretched out and he listened to the conversation in the other room.

"Hello is there any room left in your inn" came a male voice, which was low and placid. Keitaro felt the man's Ki it wasn't anything to be worried about, but he continued to listen.

"I'm sorry, but we are no longer an inn" Haruka replied.

"Oh okay well could you suggest any other places I could stay?" The man asked, as if to emphasise the man's plight a bright flash then went through out the building.

**BOOM**

The sound of the thunder shook the house, Naru, Shinobu and Kitsune screamed from the sudden sound. Su had stopped speaking now and Motoko looked a bit shaken. Keitaro was still eating as if nothing had happened.

"I wouldn't have thought you to be one scared of thunder," Motoko said to Kitsune, who still looked a little rattled.

"Yeah I have always hated loud noises, like fireworks, gunfire and of course thunder," she stated, while looking up at the ceiling, as if fearing it would fall at any second.

"Yeah I remember that thunder storm a few years back, I had to sit in the basement with you until you calmed down" Naru added, Kitsune looked over at her with annoyance, her cheeks slightly pink.

"There wasn't need to tell everyone that, was there" she said in an annoyed tone, all of the girls continued on the subject.

Keitaro on the other hand, blocked out the girls conversation and continued to listen to the one at the front door. Haruka was speaking "Well I don't see why you cant stay here for the night, but only one night" she said, though Keitaro could hear trepidation in her voice.

"God bless you miss" the man said, then Keitaro heard the door shut and the sound of foot steps come form the room across.

All eyes turned too the door too watch Haruka walk in with a man dressed in a black cloak, which was soaked through.

Haruka gestured for him to sit in her seat "Here have something to eat" she said, the man took the tea with a word of thanks and then the man took down the hood of his cloak.

He revealed a very pale face, which seemed very smooth, which had a pair of round glasses perched on his nose, which behind laid a pair of deep set small eyes with dark irises. His cheekbones were very defined and so was his chin and with a long pointy nose, it gave his whole face a pointed look. He seemed to not possess lips, all there was, was a thin line were they where suppose to be. His hair was dark and greasy, which was about shoulder length.

"I am very gracious," he said in a soft voice, before starting to eat. Everyone else at the table seemed to be disinterested in their food now; Haruka had taken a spare seat next to Kitsune and along with her was examining the visitor.

"Have you travelled far?" Kitsune asked, the man looked up at her and then back down to his food as he replied.

"Yes, I have travelled all the way from Kyoto" he said as he ate his food, all of the people at the table, except Keitaro, who was eating still, thought on this.

"Was it a difficult journey?" Shinobu asked, the man looked up again, then back down and nodded.

"Yes, there are gangs wandering all the roads and paths, I had to sneak or pay my way by, but I got here" the man said with a weak laugh, another bright flash went through out the room, then a few second later.

**BOOM**

Kitsune, screamed again, though it was much more quieter and controlled than before, but she still looked very uneasy. Both Keitaro and the man, continued to sit and eat, Motoko looked at Keitaro with slight annoyance but turned her attention back to the man.

"Did you travel alone?" she asked, once again the man looked up at the person who had asked a question then looked down before answering.

"Yes, if you travel around in any kind of group you attract attention more" he stated between after swallowing his food.

"Did u have protection?" Su asked, with a big and sly grin. The man repeated the same process of looking up and down again before answering.

"No, didn't see much sense in it" he said, Motoko's interest was peaked at this "What do you mean?" she asked. Once again the man looked up and then down again.

"Well if you try to fight at all, the gangs will just fight back and will pay more attention to you" he said, Motoko's brow furrowed slightly "So you let them walk all over you like a coward" she said, this time the man didn't look up.

"Better to be a living coward, than a dead hero" the man replied, though his voice went slightly icy and went up slightly in pitch. Haruka and Keitaro were the only ones who seemed to notice.

Another bright flash went through out the room, Keitaro could see Kitsune hold her breath and bite her bottom lip, as she was waiting for it to come.

**Boom**

The thunder sounded much fainter now, meaning it was moving away, Kitsune didn't even scream, though she still jumped slightly.

"I'm sorry but what was your name?" Naru asked, the man actually froze at this question, his chopstick inches away from his mouth; he looked up quickly at Naru then back down.

"Something wrong?" Naru asked again, seeming oblivious to the man's sudden change in attitude.

"My name…" he said, as he laid the chopsticks down and pushed the bowl away, his voice had the same high pitched tone it had a second ago. Once again everyone except Haruka and Keitaro seemed to not notice.

"Are you finished sir" Shinobu asked as she gestured to his bowl. The man ignored her, he took off his glasses and then looked up finally and at the one person he had not looked at all night, Keitaro.

"My name is Hideyasu Arakawa" he said in a very high pitched voice, this time Keitaro froze, he looked up slowly at Hideyasu, who now had a wicked smile on his face, the line now giving him the look of a snake.

"Hideyasu Arakawa, the man of a thousand Knives" Keitaro said, more to himself than to the rest of the group.

"How nice to finally meet you in person, Takisenoto" Hideyasu said, his high pitched voice made him seem to mock the person he was speaking to no matter what he was saying.

Keitaro's face went dark at hearing that name, everyone else at the table, looked confused and kept looking back and fourth between the two men. Another flash went through out the room.

"Sempai, why is he calling you that name?" Shinobu asked, before Keitaro could answer, a cold, hysterical high-pitched laugh filled the room.

"They don't know do they" Hideyasu said, before laughing again, it put all the residents in an uneasy state, Keitaro continued to stare in a serious manner, his fists clenched.

**Boom**

"How delicious" Hideyasu said when he had finished laughing, tears stained his cheeks slightly form the laughter.

"Should I bring them up to speed Takisenoto or do you want to come clean" the man once again went into a fit of laughter.

"Arakawa" all the girls looked around surprised at where the voice had come from, it had been cold, colder than Hideyasu's and had sent shivers down their spines, Motoko felt like she had heard it before.

Keitaro's face looked dark, his eyes looked cold like quick silver as he stared at the other man at the end of the table "Leave now and you will live" Keitaro's words dripped with venom.

Hideyasu had stopped laughing when Keitaro had spoke, but he still kept the wide and evil smile "Oh really" he said looking straight into Keitaro's eyes "What will happen if I stay?" he asked.

"Well, I promise that I w…" before Keitaro could finish his sentence, Hideyasu had acted.

He moved at an incredible speed, his arm had suddenly shot forward and something that caught the light flashed in his hand then was gone.

Everyone missed it, except Motoko, who had heightened sense was just able to track a throwing knife travel through the air towards Keitaro"s face, then she had to double take at what she just saw.

To every one else it was over in a mere two seconds, one second Keitaro is talking, the next Hideyaus's arm is shot up and Keitaro his holding a small knife between his forefinger and thumb an inch away from his face.

Motoko, who was able to track the dagger, didn't even see Keitaro move, but before anyone could comment on what just happened, Hideyasu was sailing through the air towards Keitaro holding a short sword above his head, ready to bring down on Keitaro, his cloak discarded, under which he wore all black clothing and webbing all over his body, which held thousands of knives and a sheath for his short sword at his lower back.

Time seemed to slow down for Motoko, as she watched everything unravel in front of her, her eyes widened considerably when she watched Hideyasu bring the blade down at a great speed towards Keitaro's head, Hideyasu's face contorted into a face of complete and utter glee.

What shocked her most though, was as she watched Keitaro sat stock still in his seat, his face one of complete and utter calm, as he simply raised only his left arm up to receive the blow.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Please review and I hope things are picking up enough for everyone.


	8. Hideyasu Arakawa

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything but a pair of old socks and the computer that I am composing this narrative to you on.

* * *

**Clang**

The sound of steel hitting steel echoed through the kitchen, Keitaro's arm was raised above his head with Hideyasu's sword against it.

All the girls stared in disbelief, several had their jaws some were in the region of their ankles, others were wide eyed and some were even doing both.

In a quick movement, Keitaro stood from his seat and pushed against Hideyasu, who flew back across his trajectory and with a back flip landed gracefully at the other end of the table.

"Oh my god…" Su exclaimed "…Keitaro's a robot", usually everyone would have face faulted at that typically Su remark, but everyone just continued starring at the two men, who were now locked in some kind of staring match.

Hideyasu's eyes were wide and mad behind his glasses, with his thin mouth stretched across his face, in a sickly smile. A bright flash went through out the kitchen.

Keitaro's face was set a serious way, none of the girls had seen it before, his mouth was set in a line and his entire face seemed to be rigid with some sort of deep seeded emotion. What was most stunning was that his normal, kind, chocolate brown eyes, seemed to have filled with ice, unlike the rest of his face, they seemed to hold no emotion.

**Boom**

The sound of the thunder going off overhead didn't even make Kitsune flinch.

"Hmm, seems you have a few tricks up you sleeve" Hideyasu said, while letting out a slight cold laugh at his tasteless pun "but it is going to take more than steel vambraces to defeat me", when the last word was out of his mouth, Hideyasu was once again flying through the air, his short sword held in a reverse grip in his left hand.

He attacked Keitaro's right, striking for the neckline, with a wide sweeping arc.

Keitaro ducked under it by dropping to the floor and then attempted to knock Hideyasu's legs from under him with a sweeping kick.

Hideyasu jumped in the air and then raised his short sword above his head and brought it down on Keitaro, while still being in mid air.

The strike hit the kitchen floor as Keitaro deftly rolled out of the way and stood up again and dropped into a stance. Another flash went through out the room.

Motoko stood behind him, still stunned by what was happening in front of her, she was having a hard time tracking either of their movements.

"Motoko" Keitaro's commanding voice came through the haze that she was in, his voice was low so she could only hear it, she looked up at the back of his head "Listen, I need you to get everyone out and as far away from us as possible" Motoko just stared, her moth moving but nothing coming out.

**Boom**

Hideyasu rose slowly from his crouching position on the floor, which now had a crack in it from where the sword had hit.

"Motoko" Keitaro said again, Motoko couldn't move, she felt fear run through her, never before had she seen someone move like that and it terrified her.

"Hmm, not bad" Hideyasu said, he smiled evilly "Try this on for size", he said while his right arm shot forwards, a small blade sailed through the air towards Keitaro.

Keitaro dodged it by an inch, and then was met with Hideyasu coming at him with another strike at his right. Keitaro caught his arm before he could land the strike and then saw no blade in the hand he held.

Hideyasu smiled to himself, as he brought the blade around with his right hand on Keitaro's left, his attack on the right being a feign. But before the strike could land, Keitaro raised his left arm up and received the blow with his steel vambrace.

**Clang**

They both looked each other in the eye, only being a few inches away from each other. Hideyasu smiled "Trying to save your little harem I hear Takisenoto?" Keitaro's eyes widened in surprise then became dangerous as he glared at the man in front of him. Another flash went off, it was brighter than the rest, which caused Hideyasu to lose concentration.

Keitaro, taking advantage of this momentary lapse, head butted Hideyasu's smiling face; Hideyasu fell back holding his head in agony for a second, a slight amount of blood dripping from his hands that were clasped over his face.

"Get out, all of you" Keitaro shouted, his voice dangerous, each of the girls flinched and didn't move at first then they slowly began edging towards the door, all except Motoko who continued to stare.

**Boom**

"Don't move" Hideyasu cried, the girls froze again. Taking his hand away from his face, which was now covered in blood, he sent out a long tongue and licked some of his lips "Don't move unless you want to die" he smiled once again.

Keitaro gritted his teeth, suddenly he shot forwards in a flash and began attacking, his face stretched with rage. Hideyasu dodged and countered his moves expertly, his eyes wide as ever and his smile even sicklier.

The girl stood and watched, each stricken with fear at the sight of the two men locked in combat. The Kitchen was not big enough to hold such a fight as it was, but with six other people in there, it made it even more confined.

Haruka watched, she too was held there by fear, but more for the other girls than herself, _we need to get out of here, at the moment we are just distractions for Keitaro_, she thought to herself, she watched and formed a plan, that she would hatch at the right moment, all she was waiting for now was that moment.

Keitaro threw a punch at Hideyasu's face, Hideyasu dodged and brought his own fist at Keitaro, who in turn dodged, but Hideyasu left the arm out there to long and Keitaro grabbed it and using his own body weight threw Hideyasu against the floor, Hideyasu felt the wind get knocked out of him and a bit of blood come up.

"NOW" Haruka shouted, everyone looked in her direction "Quickly lets get out of here" she said, while pointing to the door, unfortunately Keitaro also looked up at the shout.

Giving Hideyasu time to bring his leg up in a quick motion and his foot into Keitaro's face, Keitaro stumbled back and letting go of Hideyasu's arm.

"Where do you think your going" Hideyasu said, as he jumped up. Another flash went through the room, this one was even brighter than before, causing a few of the girls to wince at the intensity of the light, as they blinked away the light, they looked forwards and saw that Hideyasu was now in front of the girls, blocking their route of escape.

Haruka, who was at the front of the group of girls, blinked at the man who had just appeared in front of her and then watched in horror as he raised his fist and delivered a devastating punch to her face.

Haruka flew back knocking some of the girls over, she lay on the floor unconscious, her nose broken. Hideyasu just laughed to himself.

**BOOM**

"ARAKAWA" came a voice filled with rage that could be heard even with loud crack off thunder, Keitaro came flying through the air with his foot raised, as he delivered a kick to the laughing man's face. Hideyasu went flying through the door he was standing at, the sounds of furniture and ornaments being broken came from the other room, obviously being caused by him crashing through it.

Keitaro turned to Kitsune "Get everyone out, Now" he said, Kitsune could only nod, she turned to Haruka's still form "Don't worry about her, she will be fine. Now go" Keitaro said, answering her silent question. He ran through the door way and soon the sounds of the fight continuing followed.

Kitsune looked around at the people around her, Naru and Shinobu had been knocked over by Haruka, Shinobu looked close to tears and Naru seemed to be going pale. Su was uncharacteristically quite and withdrawn.

Motoko hadn't moved at all, not even when Haruka had tried to make a break for it, she just kept staring "Motoko snap out of it" Kitsune shouted as she went over to Haruka.

"It was him" Motoko said to herself, Kitsune looked at her gone out, Motoko then shook her head and looked around herself in confusion "Were did they go" she demanded franticly. Kitsune looked up at the young raven-haired girl "They're in there" she answered, while pointing at the doorway the two men had gone through.

Motoko looked at where Kitsune was pointing and then began to run for the door, "Don't be stupid" Kitsune said, Motoko turned around and looked at her, her eyes were desperate.

"But it was him" She said again, her voice breaking slightly and the corners of her eyes becoming slightly moist.

"What was him" Naru asked finally having stood up and was in the process of helping up Shinobu, who was sobbing softly her hands.

"He was the one, who saved us from them men that night" Motoko said, Naru still looked confused "Who?" she asked.

"Keitaro" Kitsune answered, Motoko looked over at her and nodded. Naru just looked even more confused "But it was you" she said anxiously "you said yourself…"

"No, you said it Naru" Kitsune said quietly "Once again you just jumped to a conclusion" Kitsune said laughing bitterly to herself.

"All he has been doing for the past couple of weeks is protect us" she looked up at everyone "Like when he protected me the other night from those men."

"But, Keitaro said…" Naru began but stopped when Kitsune looked up at her with unyielding eyes "There were eight of them, not one" Naru visibly gulped.

A loud crash came from the other room, all of the girls looked in the direction it came from and then at each other.

"Okay this is what we do" Kitsune said, her voice filling with confidence as she hatched a plan "Motoko and Naru" both girls looked up at her "you take Haruka, Su and Shinobu down to the tea house" both girls nodded.

"Where will you go?" Motoko asked, Kitsune began walking for the door, where the two men had gone through earlier "I'm going to give Keitaro's sword back to him" Motoko nodded and went over to Naru and began helping her lift Haruka, both putting an arm over their shoulder and dragging her. While Su and Shinobu followed close behind.

They exited through the other door that led to the garden, where not long ago Keitaro had been working on the chicken coop.

Kitsune made her way through the doorway and was met with what she could only describe as a crash site for a Boeing 747. The entire room had been destroyed, tables flung around, broken, with legs strewn across the place. The plaster in the walls had large cracks and dints in them. One wall had been completely broken down, leaving an opening from room to the other.

From her vantage point, Kitsune could see the carnage had gone into that room too and with the lack of two men in the room she was in, she could only summarise that they were in that one. Though she couldn't hear any fighting.

She made her way to the stairs quickly and ran up them, two steps at a time, she noticed the throwing knives sticking out the walls leading up the stairs, _Maybe Keitaro tried to go up for his sword, but Hideyasu stopped him_, she thought to herself, but pushed it out of her mind as she had to concentrate on the task at hand.

When she was on the third floor she ran over to Motoko's room and flung the door open and ran over to the sword rack, which held a sword with a sheath as black as night.

She lifted it up and noted the weight of it, she held it to herself and ran back out the door and down the stairs. She then stopped and at the second floor and ran over to her room.

She opened the door and walked over to her set of drawers next to her bed and opened the drawer that held the cigar box. Next to the box was the gun that Keitaro had given her.

She hated guns with a passion, but now she had to get over her fears if she wanted to protect her friends.

**Main Entrance Hall**

Keitaro and Hideyasu stood staring at each other, both men were breathing slightly heavier than before, but neither was at their limits.

The room around them resembled the three others they had crashed through, every piece of furniture had been destroyed, knives stuck out of the walls and there was a large hole in the wall, which they had created by throwing one of them at the wall hard enough.

It had been Keitaro's turn this time, as he was covered in plaster and dust from the destruction. Hideyasu was covered in such substances as well and a bit more that Keitaro, which meant it had happened to him more that Keitaro.

Both men were covered in cuts and few bruises, though they didn't show fully yet. Hideyasu brought a hand up to his mouth and wiped away some blood that was coming from his mouth, which was not smiling any more.

"You disappoint me Takisenoto," he said coldly, while spitting some excess blood onto the floor.

"How so?" Keitaro asked.

"You're holding back," Hideyasu, said as he threw another knife at Keitaro and began his attack again with his short sword.

Keitaro dodged the blade, but the margin was much closer than before all the other times he had, even his reaction to Hideyasu's attack to his left was slower than usual.

What had rattled Keitaro was that Hideyasu was wrong. He was trying his best to take the man down, but it just wasn't working.

Hideyasu took advantage of Keitaro, as he could easily see that the young mans mind was elsewhere. He slashed at the Keitaro's face, who dodged it by a millimetre. Then Hideyasu turned on the spot and delivered a kick to the man's chest.

Keitaro went flying through air, he wretched and some blood came out of his mouth; he went crashing through the front door to the house and landed in a puddle outside the front of the house.

The rain had stopped at one point, though no one had taken notice when. Keitaro lay in the puddle, all air had been driven out of his body and blood trailed down from the corners of his mouth.

_How_, was Keitaro's only thought as he slowly lifted himself up with his elbows.

"Sempai" came a voice to his left, he looked up and saw the girls, Shinobu was looking at him with tearful eyes, behind her stood Motoko and Naru, who were supporting Haruka, who still seemed unconscious and behind them was Su, who's face was set in a serious manner.

Hideyasu strolled out of the front door casually. Though he still wasn't smiling "So nice that our audience has decided to join us again" he said with a light chuckle, that sent shivers down everyone's spines.

Keitaro turned over in the puddle and began to lift himself up, but Hideyasu appeared behind him and put his hand on the back of Keitaro's head and forced it into the dark murky water of the puddle.

Keitaro began thrashing around to gain freedom, bubbles formed around his head were he was releasing air from frustration and desperation.

"KEITARO" Motoko shouted, as she let go of Haruka, causing Naru to bend her knees under the weight of the older woman. Motoko ran to the two men struggling on the puddle. She drew her sword and raised it above her head, as she charged Hideyasu.

Hideyasu turned his head and watched the charging swordswoman, she was charging at him while letting out a loud war cry, he couldn't help but smile at the idiocy of it, when she delivered her attack he raised his sword received it in a bored fashion.

He then flicked his sword and caused Motoko's to go flying of into the tree line next to the stairs that went down to the tea house. Motoko gasped in horror at the sight and watched in slow motion as Hideyasu brought sword around for his own attack.

This moment lapse of concentration was all Keitaro needed. He twisted over in the puddle, so he was facing upwards and then bought his leg up to deliver a kick Hideyasu's back, causing the man to fly forwards and off the swordsman.

Motoko just watched as Hideyasu sailed through the air, she had not seen Keitaro's movement, all she had seen was the result and the same seemed to be for Hideyasu as well, as his face held confusion as he flew through the air and hit a tree head first. He lay broken and still at the base of the tree.

Motoko then looked over at Keitaro who was raising himself up right from a kneeling position, his bangs were sticking to his forehead from the water in the puddle and he was breathing rather heavy and his eyes had a gleam to them, they didn't seem so cold, but more fiery.

Though Motoko only saw it for a second, as he closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to control himself. After a second his breathing was much more steady and his eyes were of the same icy glare from before when he opened them.

"Hmm, that is interesting" came a cold voice, Motoko looked over at Hideyasu and watched as he stood up again, several small trails of blood came from the top of his greasy head. The blood dripping from his chin and running into his mouth, he sent licked his tongue over his lips, as he tasted his own blood, then smiled.

"I understand now…" he said, he sheathed his short sword. Keitaro gestured for Motoko to go back to the others; she nodded and began making her way over to them, but not turning her back on Hideyasu.

"…It is not that you are holding back…" he pulled out a throwing knife, Kitsune appeared at the front door, holding the black sheathed sword, she took in the scene around her.

"…It is that you do not wish to kill anymore, is it not!" he practically shouted the last part and his usual high pitched voice, changed for a more commanding and powerful one. Each girl went visibly paler at the sentence,_ anymore_, was a collective thought of each girl.

Kitsune pushed it out of her mind and acted "Keitaro!" she shouted, he turned to her "Catch" at that word she threw the sword to him, it took all her strength, but it sailed through the air and Keitaro caught it with his right hand and smiled at her, she noted how it was different to his usual smile, but her mind returned to the situation when Motoko began to speak.

"Now you will face him on equal terms and not be such a coward" she said in a triumphant voice. Hideyasu sneered at her "Equal" he said coldly.

"This is Takisenoto the manslayer, one of the most deadliest and skilled men of the Juuhadshu, I have been outclassed the minute this fight started," he said, once again all of the girls minds seemed to be in sync,_ Manslayer, Deadliest, Juuhadshu_, each girl just stared in confusion, at Hideyasu and at the man who they thought they knew.

Hideyasu turned his sneering face onto Keitaro "but maybe I should have said, he was Takisenoto, because this man before me could never be that man" Keitaro just stared back, his eyes still icy but his face contorted into a sneer of his own.

"When did it happen?" Hideyasu asked, Keitaro put his sword in his sash and looked up at Hideyasu.

"Nothing happened, I just realised that I no longer wanted it" he said, his voice sounded far off and his features softened slightly "I realised that it isn't right to kill for the reasons I was and I realised th…"

"SHUT UP!" Hideyasu shouted, all of the girls jumped at the power of his voice "You hypocrite, don't act so high mighty" his face twisted with rage "You are a killer, just like me, and we will never escape it", the girls looked from one man to the other.

"No matter. I will bring the manslayer back from within you" his voice had returned to its high-pitched tone form before, "I know he is in there…" he began to walk slowly towards Keitaro, "…and then we will finally fight on equal terms" he said the last part with a sneer and side-glance at Motoko. While he walked he casually played with a knife in his left hand and kept his right on the grip of his sheathed sword.

Keitaro spread his legs apart and placed his left thumb under the hand guard of his sword, his right waiting over the grip of the sword.

_Battojutsu_, Motoko thought to herself as she watched Keitaro closely, she noted how relaxed his body was now and how his face was set in a determined way, though his eyes stayed the same.

Hideyasu casually flicked his wrist; the knife went flying forwards, which Keitaro dodged. Hideyasu then ran forwards and drew his short sword. Keitaro's left thumb pushed forwards and his right hand drew, his speed was incredible, but Hideyasu jumped over the arc of the strike and landed behind him.

He brought his own sword up and back down with a two handed strike, but was met with Keitaro's, who had turned around in a flash and defended with a one handed strike.

Keitaro then brought his fist into Hideyasu's gut, who doubled over and wretched out a little blood. Keitaro then brought the blunt side of his sword to the back of Hideyasu's legs and swept them from under him, in one fluent movement. Hideyasu hit the ground with a loud thud, more blood coming from his mouth.

Keitaro stood over him, his sword held at his side "you are defeated, now leave" his voice was filled with malice, but Hideyasu only laughed "the only way you can stop me…" he coughed violently and brought up some blood "…is by killing me" with this he threw a knife at Keitaro's face.

Keitaro dodged the attack, but was momentarily distracted, so Hideyasu was able to jump up and deliver a kick to his face. The kick sent Keitaro flying through the air and into the wall of the Hinata house, a small crack formed in the wall.

"You may still be better than me, but…" Hideyasu said, as he spat a bit of blood on the ground "…unless you kill me I will still keep getting up…" Keitaro raised himself up with his sword "…and eventually you will die" Keitaro looked up at him his face twisted with anger and the slight flame back in his eye.

"Getting better, but not quite there yet" Hideyasu said with a laugh as he charged at Keitaro, throwing knife after knife, Keitaro dodged each one, each time he dodged by a further margin. Hideyasu leapt at him and began an onslaught of attacks, which Keitaro defended and countered with his own array of attacks.

The girls continued looking, the sound of battle filled the air, it was awe inspiring to watch, like some kind of film or anime, but the consequence were real and the possibility of death was even more real. It was what kept each girl frozen to the spot and quiet as a mouse, it was an intense level of fear.

Keitaro blocked a side attack with his steel vambrace and then attempted to drive the end of the grip of his word into Hideyasu's chin, Hideyasu dodged, by falling backwards onto his hands, successfully kicking Keitaro in the chin. The power of the attack caused Keitaro to rise of the ground and land on his back, causing him to spit up some blood.

"You had me there, you could have gutted me, but instead you try to be noble" Hideyasu said, he looked over at the group of young girls and then back again "Were you so noble when you killed all those people one year ago" he said with a cold laugh.

Every girl present gasped at that sentence and each visibly paled "you despicable coward, you're lying" Motoko shouted her hand in a fist "Yeah I don't believe sempai would ever do that" each girl standing next to Motoko agreed, including Naru, Kitsune stayed uncharacteristically quiet.

Hideyasu looked over at them with a sneer "That is the third time you have dared to call me a coward…" he said to Motoko "…I will not give you the chance for a fourth" at that he threw a knife at Motoko.

Motoko watched in slow motion as the blade soared through the air towards her face. Then all she saw was blood, but not her blood, Keitaro's blood as it dripped down his now wounded arm.

The knife stuck out of his forearm, his face held no pain. Motoko just stared at his face, the determination set in his face and the fire in his eyes, though it seemed different from before, less dangerous. Su, Shinobu and Naru just kept looking at the spot on the floor were he had lain before and where he was now.

"You self-righteous bastard" Hideyasu said, though his voice held no malice, it sounded almost joyful "but now I know how to get you to come back", he sheathed his sword and his stance became more casual.

"What are you talking about?" Naru asked, she had been holding Haruka up the whole time and was getting frustrated with the situation.

"As the Takisenoto already knows, each one of my knives is covered in a special poison" each girl gasped again and looked at Keitaro, who had sheathed his sword and was in the process of pulling out the knife.

"In twenty four hours he will be dead…" Keitaro pulled out the knife, blood began to flow from the wound, "...unless he takes an antidote" Keitaro ripped some of his sash and tied it around his arm to stop the bleeding.

"And were is this antidote" Motoko asked, Hideyasu smiled and pulled out a small vile containing a strange green liquid "This is the only known antidote" he said casually playing with the vile. Keitaro finally showed some interest as he looked over at the vile.

"So you expect me to fight you for the antidote" Keitaro said, his voice was cold. Hideyasu shook his head "No, I know you would either steal it or take me down in some, boring, non lethal fashion and then take it of me."

"So, what do you want" Keitaro asked, Hideyasu smiled his most evil smile of the night, then put the vile in his mouth and swallowed it. Keitaro's eyes lit up at this, he made to step forward but then stopped and scowled at Hideyasu.

Motoko watched, as she could see the vile pass down the man's throat. She felt sick at the sight; she turned her head and saw that all the other girls had done the same.

Hideyasu gagged slightly and then began laughing hysterically "Now you have to kill me," he said as he turned and began walking away "also…" he stopped and turned back to Keitaro "…don't try to be noble and let yourself die…" he smiled once again "…or else I will come back here and take your head…" then he looked at each of the girls individually "…and the heads of each of your women…" he turned back and began to walk away "…but not after I have some fun" his laugh could be heard for another ten minutes as he left.

Everyone turned to Keitaro; his face was tilted forwards so his bangs hid his eyes. The sound of a gun being cocked came from the entrance to the house. Everyone, except Keitaro, looked over at Kitsune, who held a gun at arms length, pointing in Keitaro's direction.

Tears were running down her face and she looked close to collapsing right there "Keitaro…" she said weakly "…say it isn't true, please" more tears ran down her face, her hands were shaking violently, but Keitaro still didn't move.

"Keitaro…" she said again "…please, say it isn't true", the girls looked from her to Keitaro in confusion "Kitsune what are you talking about?" Naru asked.

"Keitaro…" Kitsune said, her voice getting stronger "…say it isn't true", Keitaro finally turned around and looked Kitsune in the eye "Kitsune…" his voice was wrought with sorrow, Kitsune's eyes opened wide "No" she said her voice twisted with anguish "No."

"I'm so sorry" he finally said, Kitsune broke down at his words, she fell to her knees and cried, each sob was filled with pain and suffering. Keitaro walked towards her slowly "Kitsune I…" he wasn't able to finish his sentence as Kitsune stood straight back up and gun raised pointing at Keitaro, her face was filled with rage.

"You killed him" she shouted, Naru was about to ask who when "…you killed my daddy, you Bastard" she screamed, Keitaro just stood there and continued to stare.

"I'll fucking kill you, you Bastard" the last part was said in sobs, the gun did not lower though.

Everyone went quite all that could be heard was Kitsune's heavy breathing, but no shot came and after a while Kitsune lowered the gun "No, I will not kill you…" she said, Keitaro actually smiled and was about to speak "…cos if I do that psychopath will come back" Keitaro's face dropped "so you go and do what you do best…" she turned her back on him "…and then never come back" she then walked off into the House.

Everyone stood there in silence, Keitaro stood facing the ground, and each girl stared at where Kitsune had left, all except Motoko who continued to stare at Keitaro.

After what felt like an hour, though it had only been about five minutes, Keitaro turned around and walked off towards the stairs.

"Wait" Motoko shouted, he stopped just at the top of the stairs, though he didn't turn around. Then after a moment he began to descend the stairs.

"Well, I guess we should take Haruka inside" Naru said as she began to carry Haruka in, Su followed behind and so did Shinobu after a second of starring at the stairs.

Naru turned to look at Motoko, who was still starring after Keitaro "Motoko, forget about him, lets g…" Motoko looked over at Naru, her eyes were filled with tears. She then turned around and ran down the stairs.

**A field on the outskirts of Hinata**

Keitaro walked into the wide expanse, he had followed Hideyasu's Ki to this place, he hadn't come straight away, and he had wandered the streets of Hinata, not caring if anyone attacked him, all he could think about was what he had done.

"I am so happy that you decided to come" Hideyasu said, Keitaro didn't even react to him appearing out of no where, he just stood there with his hand on his sword, thumb ready to move.

"Not up for talking, that's fine by me," Hideyasu said, as he drew his sword and prepared a throwing knife "Ready" he said with a smile, Keitaro said nothing and didn't even move.

"Suit yourself" Hideyasu said as he jumped in the air, throwing several knives at Keitaro, who simply disappeared from Hideyasu's sight. Hideyasu landed and stood upright to be face to face with Keitaro.

Keitaro stepped forward, his left thumb pushing forwards and his right hand drawing. A few feet away a half off broken blade landed in the dirt, the sun glinted off it as it rose from the east.

Hideyasu smiled and then fell backwards, when he hit he coughed loudly, blood flowed from his mouth, but he continued to smile. Keitaro had cut him right across his mid section, his short sword lay broken next to him and his insides flowed onto the hard dirt ground of the field.

Keitaro swiped his blade through the air to get rid of the blood on it and then he sheathed his sword.

"Th…th…that was fantastic" Hideyasu stuttered out through painful breaths "That was the real Takisenoto" he laughed to himself, bringing up more blood and coughing even louder, Keitaro kneeled down and picked up the vile, which had flowed from the large cut in the man's stomach.

The sound of someone running and heavy breathing could be heard getting closer, Keitaro looked up and watched Motoko run up to them. When she reached them she looked down at Hideyasu and put her hands to her mouth and gasped.

Hideyasu smiled up at her and then looked over at Keitaro, who had uncorked the vile and was swallowing the green substance within in one gulp "M…m…more will come" Hideyasu said, his voice becoming fainter, but still held the high pitched tone.

"More" Motoko said, Keitaro also looked down at the man, though his face gave nothing away, Hideyasu laughed weakly to himself, blood flowing down his face "Y…y…you're a marked man Takisenoto…" Hideyasu coughed loudly. Blood flying out and landing on Motoko's gi pants. She looked down and attempted to wipe it off, but found it wouldn't come off without smudging.

"F…f…fifty million US dollars for you d…d…Dead" he said with a smile, Motoko looked up at the number, _Fifty million dollars_, she thought, she looked down at the dying man "So that's why y…" Hideyasu laughed again, it was the faintest yet.

"No" he said with strength "…I did it to see how good I was…" he smiled to himself "…by testing myself against the greatest warriors of this age" his voice faded away at the end of his sentence, his eyes began to close, but he fought against them.

'T…T…T…Takisenoto…" Keitaro looked down to him, Hideyasu looked up and smiled "…Thank You" he then wretched, his eyes going wide and blood flowing like a river from his mouth. Motoko looked away as the man twitched and made gargling noises of pain and then went still.

Keitaro leaned down; Hideyasu's was still smiling, as he closed the man's eyes. Motoko felt tears go down her face, she had never seen any one die before and the brutal nature of it didn't help either, she closed her eyes and wept silently. Until a hand was placed on her shoulder, she opened her eyes and looked into Keitaro's, which held sorrow as well.

"Why did you come?" he asked, Motoko blushed then swatted his hand away, she cleared her eyes and took a deep breath "to make sure that you don't leave" she said in a confident voice.

"Why?" he asked again, she looked at him with annoyance "because we need you…" she said in a small voice though she looked up again with a confident stare "…and…"

"And" Keitaro said, though he didn't smile at her playful attitude, his mind still on recent events "…who will I train with" she said with a winning smile, she then turned around and began to walk away.

Keitaro stood there, stunned by her smile "Well, are you coming" she shouted back to him. Keitaro smiled a genuine smile and walked off following Motoko. The sun had fully risen casting their long shadows across the field.

* * *

**Authors Notes:** Well I wont lie don't expect another update for a long time, I feel like I have given you enough to rip apart, to think about and to spread around to other people.

All I hope is that everyone is enjoying it and that they understand it and that they will review.

Thank You.


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